One of the most famous space shuttle, Discovery returns to earth, landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral and will be retiring soon. It was Shuttle Discovery’s final voyage into space after 27 years of successful space missions. Discovery is NASA’s most travelled spaceship and on 9 March 2011 it ended its flying career with another successful construction mission at the international space center.
According to stats in NASA, Discovery has accumulated 365 days in orbit with 39 space missions under its wings. It is also the oldest operational spaceship after two of its sister ships Challenger and Columbia who were lost in 1986 and 2003 respectively, during one of its missions. Discovery will lead the two surviving fleet into retirement, shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis will have their own final space voyage also on April and June respectively.
Discovery’s commander was heard over the radio “Houston, Discovery. For the final, time wheels stop” and the shuttle proudly stood still on the runway at Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will soon be prepared for display to its final home at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. And the two remaining shuttle’s home still has to be known.
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