Space Shuttle Discovery

Discovery
Discovery in orbit in 2011, during STS-133, the orbiter's final flight
Type	Spaceplane
Class	Space Shuttle orbiter
Eponym	Discovery (1602) HMS Discovery (1774)
Serial no.	OV-103
Owner	NASA
Manufacturer	Rockwell International
Specifications
Dry mass	78,000 kilograms (172,000 lb)
Rocket	Space Shuttle
History
First flight	August 30 – September 5, 1984 STS-41-D
Last flight	February 24 – March 9, 2011 STS-133
Flights	39
Flight time	8,783 hours
Travelled	238,539,663 kilometres (148,221,675 mi) around Earth[1]
Orbits	5,830 around Earth
Fate	Retired
Location	Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Chantilly, Virginia
Space Shuttle orbiters
← Challenger Atlantis →

Space Shuttle Discovery (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is a retired American spacecraft. The spaceplane was one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built.^[2] Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, aggregating more spaceflights than any other spacecraft to date. The Space Shuttle launch vehicle had three main components: the Space Shuttle orbiter, a single-use central fuel tank, and two reusable solid rocket boosters. Nearly 25,000 heat-resistant tiles cover the orbiter to protect it from high temperatures on re-entry.^[3]

Discovery became the third operational orbiter to enter service, preceded by Columbia and Challenger.^[4] It embarked on its final mission, STS-133, on February 24, 2011, and touched down for the last time at Kennedy Space Center on March 9,^[5] having spent a cumulative total of nearly a full year in space. Discovery performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions, and also carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit among other satellites.

Discovery was the first operational shuttle to be retired, followed by Endeavour and then Atlantis. The shuttle is now on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.