Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-121
Launch Successful
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Instantaneous launch window.
Launch Window
July 4, 2006, 6:37 p.m. - July 4, 2006, 6:37 p.m.
Instantaneous launch window.
July 4, 2006, 6:37 p.m. - July 4, 2006, 6:37 p.m.
STS-121 was a 2006 NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Discovery. The main purposes of the mission were to test new safety and repair techniques introduced following the Columbia disaster of February 2003 as well as to deliver supplies, equipment and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter from Germany to the ISS.
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.
Space Shuttle Discovery (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, gathering more spaceflights than any other spacecraft to date. Discovery became the third operational orbiter to enter service, preceded by Columbia and Challenger. It embarked on its last mission, STS-133, on February 24, 2011 and touched down for the final time at Kennedy Space Center on March 9, having spent a cumulative total of almost a full year in space. Discovery performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions. It also carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. Discovery was the first operational shuttle to be retired, followed by Endeavour and then Atlantis.
Space Shuttle Details
Date of
Birth: Aug. 24, 1960
Age: 65
Date of
Birth: Feb. 21, 1964
Age: 61
Date of
Birth: May 10, 1963
Age: 62
Date of
Birth: May 23, 1958
Age: 67
Date of
Birth: Dec. 19, 1957
Age: 67
Date of
Birth: April 11, 1955
Date of Death:
Dec. 23, 2016
Date of
Birth: Sept. 27, 1966
Age: 59
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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