Discovery was the first operational shuttle to be retired, followed by endeavour and then atlantis. Discovery was the third space shuttle orbiter to fly in space Discovery was ready to go back into the weightless expanse—the first space shuttle mission since the challenger disaster nearly three years earlier Would there be a repeat of that terrible. The smithsonian institution says nasa relinquished full ownership of space shuttle discovery, but congress wants to force the vehicle's relocation. In the course of its 39 missions spanning more than 26 years, discovery flew virtually every type of mission envisioned for the space shuttle, including government and commercial satellite deployments and retrievals, launching and servicing scientific observatories such as the hubble space telescope, resupplying the russian mir space station.
An immersive tour of the shuttle explore discovery at the smithsonian's national air and space museum
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