Discovery’s Final Voyage
April 18, 2012
The U. S. space shuttle Discovery made its final voyage on Tuesday, April 17, hitching a ride aboard a modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Discovery was flown from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Dulles International Airport in Virginia. There, the shuttle is to become an exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum annex in Chantilly. Discovery replaced the shuttle prototype Enterprise, which will go on exhibit in New York City.
Columbia was the first space shuttle to be launched into space, in 1981. (Courtesy of NASA)
Discovery first flew into space in August 1984, on a mission to deploy three communications satellites. It was the third shuttle in the fleet, following Columbia and Challenger. Discovery carried the Hubble Space Telescope into space in 1990. After the explosions of Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003, Discovery, along with the shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour, carried on the task of ferrying parts and crew members to build the International Space Station (ISS). Construction of the ISS began in 1998, and the shuttles completed the delivery of major station modules by 2011. Discovery flew 39 missions in all, more than any other shuttle. Since its first flight, Discovery has logged more than 148 million miles (238 million kilometers) and spent a cumulative 365 days in space.
The U.S. fleet of space shuttles was instrumental in building the ISS, a space station program in which 15 nations are involved. (Courtesy of NASA)
President George W. Bush announced plans in 2004 to end the space shuttle program. By that time, engineers had become concerned about the safety of the aging vehicle–the first reusable spacecraft. The government determined that private contractors would take over the shuttle’s responsibilities at the ISS and that NASA would devote its resources to exploring space. The shuttle Endeavour was slated to be put on exhibit in Los Angeles, while Atlantis was to remain at the Kennedy Space Center. Nearly 2,000 people gathered to see Discovery’s final voyage and to mark the end of an amazing era of space exploration.
Additional World Book articles:
- Thirty Years of Discovery (a special report)
- Seeing the Universe in a Different Light (a special report)
- Space exploration 1981 (Back in Time article)
- Space exploration 1984 (Back in Time article)
- Space exploration 1986 (Back in Time article)
- Space exploration 1990 (Back in Time article)
- Space exploration 2000 (Back in Time article)
- Space exploration 2003 (Back in Time article)
- Space exploration 2011 (Back in Time article)
