Discovery Space Shuttle

On July 26, 2005 at 10:39 EDT, Discovery launched into space on mission STS-114, marking the first shuttle launch since the February 2003 Columbia disaster. Videos taken during the minutes after the launch revealed that a piece of foam insulation came off Discovery's external fuel tank, although it apparently did not damage the shuttle. After the problem was discovered, NASA suspended all future launches until the problem is solved. During the mission astronauts removed a piece of gap filler from the nose on an extra-vehicular activity (spacewalk).

Discovery was set to return on August 7, 2005, but their mission was extended due to unfavorable weather conditions. The shuttle returned from orbit on August 9, 2005, landing in darkness at 8:12 AM EDT just before dawn at Edwards Air Force Base after travelling 5.8 million miles (9 300 000 km).

Discovery was flown from Edwards Air Force Base using a Boeing 747 (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft) and landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10 AM, Monday, August 22. After landing, Discovery was lifted off the back of the 747 and then towed to the nearby Orbiter Processing Facility marking the end of STS-114. Here, Discovery was emptied of its cargo from the International Space Station and was readied for the next shuttle mission, STS-121.

Space Shuttle Discovery (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of three remaining spacecraft in the space shuttle fleet belonging to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). First flown in 1984, Discovery is the third operational space shuttle, and the oldest in service. Discovery has performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions.

The spacecraft takes its name from previous ships of exploration named Discovery, primarily HMS Discovery, the sailing ship that accompanied famous explorer James Cook on his third and final major voyage. Others include Henry Hudson's ship Discovery which he used in 1610–1611 to search for a Northwest Passage, and RRS Discovery, a vessel used for expeditions to Antarctica in 1901-1904 by Scott and Shackleton (and still preserved as a museum). The shuttle shares a name with Discovery One, the fictional femer-shaped Jupiter spaceship from the films 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: The Year We Make Contact.

Discovery was the shuttle that launched the Hubble Space Telescope. The second and third Hubble service missions were also conducted by Discovery, and she is currently scheduled to perform the 5th one sometime in 2008. She has also launched the Ulysses probe and three TDRS satellites. Discovery has been chosen twice as the return to flight orbiter, first as the return to flight orbiter after the 1986 Challenger disaster in 1988, and as the orbiter for the return to flight mission in July 2005, after the 2003 Columbia disaster. Discovery also carried Project Mercury astronaut John Glenn, who was 77 at the time, back into space during STS-95 on October 29, 1998, making him the oldest human being to venture into space.

Had the planned DOD shuttle missions from Vandenberg Air Force Base gone ahead, Discovery would have flown these missions.