Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103)

History

Rockwell International built six reusable space shuttle orbiters for the U.S. space program - Atlantis, Challenger, Columbia, Discovery, Enterprise and Endeavour. Two of them disappeared during the mission (Columbia and Challenger), while four retired during their term and as museum displays.

Discovery received the orbiter designation "OV-103", was born under a contract awarded on January 29, 1979, and recorded its first mission on August 30, 1984. Its last mission took place on February 24, 2011.

Discovery flew a total of 39 missions involving approximately 252 crew members who spent more than a year in space (365 days, 22 hours). Her retired frame is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia (2016).

Compared to the Columbia, the Discovery entered service with a slightly revised, lighter design and benefited from previous testing on the Columbia, Challenger and Enterprise frames. In 1983, she would receive the "Centaur-G" liquid-powered booster system, but the Challenger incident deorbited the unit.

In 1995, she underwent an overhaul to make her a viable spaceship in the near future.

During the flight, Discovery achieved several notable accomplishments for itself, its crew, and the U.S. space program. STS-41-D marked the second American woman in space, Judith Resnick (she was later tragically killed in the Challenger disaster). STS-31 saw the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, while STS-63 marked the first time the space shuttle was piloted by a woman. STS-95 marked the return of astronaut John Glenn to space when he was 77 years old, making him the oldest person to accomplish the feat.

With STS-96, Discovery became the first space shuttle to dock with the International Space Station (13 total dockings were eventually recorded), and STS-92 became the 100th mission completed by the space shuttle program. STS-133 went down in history as Discovery's last mission.

Discovery also docked with the Soviet-Russian Mir space station several times during the warming up of relations with the Russians.

STS-26 and STS-114 became famous missions in their own right because it was Discovery that got the US space program back on track after the Challenger and Columbia mission disasters.

Discovery's career finally came to an end on March 9, 2011, when she officially retired from active duty in NASA's orbiter fleet. The boarding fleet has since been retired from active duty.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes