Discovery Space Shuttle Launch
This shuttle is one of the retired space orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA. It was operational from its maiden flight-STS-41-D on August 30, 1984 until the final landing of STS-133 on March 9, 2011. It was NASA's Orbiter fleet leader, with 39 successful missions in just over 27 years. It became the third operational orbiter following Columbia and Challenger, and its final flight touchdown occurred at the Kennedy Space Center on March 9, 2011 at 10:57:17 CST. This was after spending an entire year in space. It has performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions. Discovery also sent the Hubble Space Telescope into space! It was the first operational shuttle to be retired, followed by Endevour and Atlantis. This ship was named after the HMS Discovery, and the RRS Discovery.