← Continued from Page 1 of "Discovery - First Space Shuttle to End a Career"
DISCOVERY
Since both the shuttles that have preceded it were destroyed, the Discovery has become the first space shuttle in the active program to be properly retired, after a successful career. A career which started on August 30, 1984, when it was launched as a means to deliver three communications satellites.
Discovery, as did all space shuttles, uses a very simple, yet effective working principle, comprised of the orbiter itself, solid rocket boosters and a fuel tank. When launched, the shuttle uses the Solid Rocket Boosters to escape the Earth's gravitational pull. The orbiter itself has three main engines, used to provide the needed additional thrust during take off by burning a combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
Once in space, the shuttle can be controlled using the engines of the orbital maneuvering systems, which comprises two units located at pods on the aft section, one on either side. They can be fired to correct the position of the space shuttle while in space and they are, at the same time, used to slow the shuttle for re-entry.
Since the creation of the very first space shuttle, the Enterprise, the name of the crafts has been one of the attributes that were meant to signify something for humanity. In the case of the Discovery, its name was chosen as a tribute to all the other Earth-bound ships and vessels called Discovery. NASA says the Discovery is a tribute to Henry Hudson and his 1600 ship, James Cook's vessel of the 1770s, or to the two British Royal Geographical Society ships that went on expeditions to the North Pole and the Antarctic (HMS Discovery and RRS Discovery).
The missions the Discovery was sent into space to perform are perhaps a perfect fit for its name. It was Discovery that put our eyes in the skies, by deploying the Hubble Space Telescope into space during mission STS-31 in April 1990.
Before the arrival into the scene of the International Space Station, the Discovery was the shuttle with which NASA achieved quite a lot of “firsts,” some of them a bit funny in nature. Senator Jake Garn (R–Utah), became the first incumbent US congressman to fly into space aboard the Discovery. The space shuttle also carried the first Russian to reach space into an American vehicle, Sergei Krikalev and the oldest man into space, John Glenn.
Most importantly, Discovery will remain in history as the space ship that has docked, for the first time, with the International Space Station. This third shuttle in the NASA lineup was also selected to be the vehicle with which the space program was resumed, after both of the shuttle disasters that have shaken the program.
After the two remaining shuttles are retired later this year, they too will follow in the tire marks of the Discovery, as NASA plans to sell them to the museum that pays the most for them. A long idling time in space exploration is expected to follow, as the US and NASA prepare for the next challenges: returning to the moon and landing a man on Mars.
Discovery, as did all space shuttles, uses a very simple, yet effective working principle, comprised of the orbiter itself, solid rocket boosters and a fuel tank. When launched, the shuttle uses the Solid Rocket Boosters to escape the Earth's gravitational pull. The orbiter itself has three main engines, used to provide the needed additional thrust during take off by burning a combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
Once in space, the shuttle can be controlled using the engines of the orbital maneuvering systems, which comprises two units located at pods on the aft section, one on either side. They can be fired to correct the position of the space shuttle while in space and they are, at the same time, used to slow the shuttle for re-entry.
Since the creation of the very first space shuttle, the Enterprise, the name of the crafts has been one of the attributes that were meant to signify something for humanity. In the case of the Discovery, its name was chosen as a tribute to all the other Earth-bound ships and vessels called Discovery. NASA says the Discovery is a tribute to Henry Hudson and his 1600 ship, James Cook's vessel of the 1770s, or to the two British Royal Geographical Society ships that went on expeditions to the North Pole and the Antarctic (HMS Discovery and RRS Discovery).
The missions the Discovery was sent into space to perform are perhaps a perfect fit for its name. It was Discovery that put our eyes in the skies, by deploying the Hubble Space Telescope into space during mission STS-31 in April 1990.
Before the arrival into the scene of the International Space Station, the Discovery was the shuttle with which NASA achieved quite a lot of “firsts,” some of them a bit funny in nature. Senator Jake Garn (R–Utah), became the first incumbent US congressman to fly into space aboard the Discovery. The space shuttle also carried the first Russian to reach space into an American vehicle, Sergei Krikalev and the oldest man into space, John Glenn.
Most importantly, Discovery will remain in history as the space ship that has docked, for the first time, with the International Space Station. This third shuttle in the NASA lineup was also selected to be the vehicle with which the space program was resumed, after both of the shuttle disasters that have shaken the program.
THE END
Discovery will soon head, after NASA completes the required maintenance work (including stripping the space shuttle of parts and decontaminating it), right for the Smithsonian museum, where it will replace the ship currently on display, the Enterprise.After the two remaining shuttles are retired later this year, they too will follow in the tire marks of the Discovery, as NASA plans to sell them to the museum that pays the most for them. A long idling time in space exploration is expected to follow, as the US and NASA prepare for the next challenges: returning to the moon and landing a man on Mars.
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