Looking back at the space shuttle Discovery: A timeline

feature-image

Play all audios:

The space shuttle Discovery embarked on its 39th and final mission Thursday afternoon. Since its maiden trip in 1984, Discovery has logged 352 days in orbit, circling the Earth 5,628 times


and traveling 143 million miles. The ship will be retired after this flight, as NASA winds down the 30-year-old shuttle program. (The agency plans only two more space shuttle missions, one


each for Endeavour and Atlantis.) Here, a look at some of Discovery's milestones through the years:


Construction begins on Discovery, the third space shuttle in NASA's fleet. It would take four years to complete. Inside the space agency, Discovery is also known as Orbiter Vehicle-103, or


OV-103.


Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.