Space Shuttle Discovery

By Marty McDowell/NASA

Discovery, the third orbiter to become operational at Kennedy Space Center, was named after one of two ships that were used by the British explorer James Cook in the 1770s during voyages in the South Pacific that led to the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. Another of his ships was the Endeavour, the namesake of NASA's newest orbiter.

Cook also used Discovery to explore the coasts of southern Alaska and northwestern Canada. During the American Revolutionary War, Benjamin Franklin made a safe conduct request for the British vessel because of the scientific importance of its research.

Other famous ships have carried the name Discovery, including one used by Henry Hudson to explore Hudson Bay in Canada as well as search for what was hoped to be the northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1610 and 1611. Another, based on whaling ship design, was used by the British Royal Geographical Society for an expedition to the North Pole in 1875. This organization then built another Discovery in 1901 to conduct its Antarctic expedition that concluded in 1904. This ship still exists and is being preserved by the Society.

In the day-to-day world of Shuttle operations and processing, Space Shuttle orbiters go by a more prosaic designation. Discovery is commonly referred to as OV-103, for Orbiter Vehicle-103. Empty Weight was 151,419 lbs at rollout and 171,000 lbs with main engines installed.

Upgrades and Features

Discovery benefited from lessons learned in the construction and testing of Enterprise, Columbia and Challenger. At rollout, its weight was some 6,870 pounds less than Columbia. Two orbiters, Challenger and Discovery, were modified at KSC to enable them to carry the Centaur upper stage in the payload bay. These modifications included extra plumbing to load and vent Centaur's cryogenic (L02/LH2) propellants (other IUS/PAM upper stages use solid propellants), and controls on the aft flight deck for loading and monitoring the Centaur stage. No Centaur flight was ever flown and after the loss of Challenger it was decided that the risk was too great to launch a shuttle with a fueled Centaur upper stage in the payload bay.

Construction Milestones

01/29/79 Contract Award

08/27/79 Start long lead fabrication of Crew Module

06/20/80 Start fabrication lower fuselage

11/10/80 Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage

12/08/80 Start initial system installation aft fuselage

03/02/81 Start fabrication/assembly of payload bay doors

10/19/81 Start detailed fabrication/assembly of body flap

10/26/81 Start initial system installation, crew module, Downey

01/04/82 Start initial system installation upper forward fuselage

03/16/82 Midfuselage on dock, Palmdale

03/30/82 Elevons on dock, Palmdale

04/30/82 Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman

04/30/82 Lower forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale

07/16/82 Upper forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale

08/05/82 Vertical stabilizer on dock, Palmdale

09/03/82 Start of Final Assembly

10/15/82 Body flap on dock, Palmdale

01/11/83 Aft fuselage on dock, Palmdale

02/25/83 Complete final assembly and closeout installation, Palmdale

02/28/83 Start initial subsystems test, power-on, Palmdale

05/13/83 Complete initial subsystems testing

07/26/83 Complete subsystems testing

08/12/83 Completed Final Acceptance

10/16/83 Rollout from Palmdale

11/05/83 Overland transport from Palmdale to Edwards

11/09/83 Delivery to Kennedy Space Center

06/02/84 Flight Readiness Firing

08/30/84 First Flight (41-D)

Discovery
	Discovery landing on 10-10-90, courtesy of NASA

Discovery's Flights to date:

01. 41-D (08/30/84)

02. 51-A (11/08/84)

03. 51-C (01/24/85)

04. 51-D (04/12/85)

05. 51-G (06/17/85)

06. 51-I (08/27/85)

07. STS-26 (09/29/88)

08. STS-29 (03/13/89)

09. STS-33 (11/22/89)

10. STS-31 (04/24/90)

11. STS-41 (10/06/90)

12. STS-39 (4/28/91)

13. STS-48 (09/12/91)

14. STS-42 (01/22/92)

15. STS-53 (12/02/92)

16. STS-56 (04/08/93)

17. STS-51 (09/12/93)

18. STS-60 (02/03/94)

19. STS-64 (09/09/94)

20. STS-63 (02/03/95)

21. STS-70 (07/13/95)

22. STS-82 (02/11/97)

Discovery underwent a nine-month Orbiter Maintenance Down Period (OMDP) in Palmdale California. The vehicle was outfitted with a 5th set of cryogenic tanks and an external airlock to support missions to the international Space Station. (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 8/25/1995). Discovery departed Palmdale, CA, riding piggy-back on a modified Boeing 747 at 10:01am EDT 6/28/96 and arrived at KSC on 6/29/96. (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 7/01/1996).

23. STS-85 (8/7/97)

24. STS-91 (6/2/98)

25. STS-95 (10/29/98)

26. STS-96 (5/27/99)

Source: NASA.

Share Your Memories!

What do you remember about Space Shuttle Discovery? Have you any compelling stories to share? Share your stories with the world! (We print the best stories right here!)

Space References (Videos):
Cosmos. PBS, 2000.
Stephen Hawking's Universe. PBS, 1997.
Hyperspace. BBC, 2002.
Life Beyond Earth PBS, 1999.
The Planets. BBC, 1999.
Understanding The Universe. A&E, 1996.