And it’s the
final Shuttle Landing for Discovery on this
Wednesday 9th of March 2011. Space shuttle Discovery landed for the last time on earth after its final mission which lasted 13 days and consisted of more than 5 millions miles of travel. This special landing today concludes an illustrious 27-year career of the space craft.The last mission of Discovery was commanded by Steve Lindsey and was joined by Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Alvin Drew, Michael Barratt, Steve Bowen and Nicole Stott. The shuttle’s crew last mission which consisted both of spacewalks and indoor mission was to deliver an outside storage platform, a robot astronaut prototype, a new pressurized storage module and tons of cargo.
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| Discovery landing path. |
“Discovery is an amazing spacecraft and she has served her country well,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. Bolden said that the success of this mission and those that came before it is a testament to the diligence and determination of everyone who has worked on Discovery and the Space Shuttle Program, over these many years.
Since 1984, Discovery flew 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited Earth 5,830 times and traveled 148,221,675 miles. Discovery was the shuttle that launched the Hubble Space Telescope. The second and third Hubble service missions were also conducted by Discovery. It has also launched the Ulysses probe and three TDRS satellites. Discovery is also remembered to have carried the oldest human being (Project Mercury astronaut John Glenn) to venture into space. John Glenn was 77 at the time (October 29, 1998). A welcome ceremony for the astronauts will be held Thursday, March 10, in Houston.
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| Discovery Shuttle Final Landing Pictur | | | | | | |
