Yesterdays' was the last landing for the oldest shuttle in the fleet, as the STS 133 was its last mission. For the past 27 years, Discovery took man well beyond his natural limits, helping him create a beach head on the edges of space.
Discovery was, and will probably remain for a very long time, an icon for space exploration. Throughout its career, it flew in 39 missions, traveled 148 million miles and circled the Earth, from above, 5,830 times. In all, in its 27 years of active duty, the iconic space shuttle spent a full year in space.
Hit by the economic crisis and those who see no advantages in continuing to fly into space, as well as faced with the aging fleet of shuttles, NASA will discontinue the program this year. Over the following months, the remaining two space crafts, the Endeavour and Atlantis, will fly on their last mission as well.
Discovery, the first to be retired, will probably end up being displayed at the Smithsonian later this year. For the other two, a bitter battle between museums across the US will ensue, with the shuttles to go to the highest bidders.
Once they're all retired, no one will probably remember what they meant for humanity. As one CNN corresponded at Cape Canaveral said yesterday, citing one of the astronauts, people will go to the Smithsonian, take a look at Discovery and think for themselves: “Neah, they never did that!”
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