Visit for continuing coverage of the delivery and display of NASA's retired space shuttles.įollow collectSPACE on Facebook and Twitter collectSPACE and editor Robert Pearlman robertpearlman. female pilot, Eileen Collins, as well as by Mercury astronaut and Senator John Glenn, who at 77 returned to orbit aboard Discovery as the oldest person to fly in space. The orbiter was flown by the first African American commander, Frederick Gregory, and the first U.S. The fleet leader, Discovery also returned the space shuttle program to flight after the losses of Challenger and Columbia in 19, respectively.ĭiscovery was the first space shuttle to visit the International Space Station and delivered its largest laboratory. A number of its missions were associated with technological and scientific achievements, including the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit in 1990 and the deployment of the Ulysses solar probe the same year. It completed 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited the Earth 5,830 times and traveled 148,221,675 miles.ĭiscovery was the third of NASA's orbiters to fly. Its final mission, STS-133, launched Feb. (Image credit: California Science Center) In a much more publicized move almost. "As part of the Smithsonian collection, Discovery will bring a richer perspective to the historical and scientific significance of the space shuttle program, one of our country's greatest achievements," Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian, said in a statement.ĭiscovery was the first of three orbiters retired from NASA's shuttle fleet. An overhead view of the space shuttle Endeavour after its payload bay doors were opened on Wednesday, Feb. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport on Monday (April 23), weather permitting. The two spaceships were then to part ways - Discovery entering the Udvar-Hazy Center for display by day's end and Enterprise heading off to an adjacent airport apron to be mated with the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.Įnterprise will be flown to New York's John F. On Thursday, Enterprise was rolled out of the museum's hangar and displayed with Discovery nose-to-nose. The space agency, in turn, awarded the test orbiter to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, a converted World War II aircraft carrier berthed along the Hudson River in New York City. To make room for Discovery, the Smithsonian returned ownership of Enterprise to NASA in 2011. In December 2003, it went on display inside the Udvar-Hazy Center's McDonnell Space Hangar as its centerpiece. Rolling up to the Udvar-Hazy Center on Thursday morning, Discovery was parked for the ceremony opposite the orbiter that made its own spaceflights possible.Įnterprise, a prototype shuttle that never flew in space but completed a series of critical approach and landing test flights in the late 1970s, had been part of the National Air and Space Museum's collection since 1985.
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