STS-31 was the thirty-fifth mission of the space shuttle program. Discovery's tenth mission deployed the Hubble Space Telescope.
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: Sept. 23, 1944
Age: 81
Date of
Birth: Aug. 19, 1946
Age: 79
Date of
Birth: June 8, 1937
Date of Death:
Dec. 21, 2017
Date of
Birth: Oct. 3, 1951
Age: 74
Date of
Birth: Dec. 12, 1951
Age: 74
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.
INFO WIKINASA’s Hubble finds that star formation in the Andromeda galaxy has undergone a 500-million-year decline.
This Hubble image features spiral galaxy NGC 4654, located 72 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo (the Maiden).
More than 500,000 stars blaze red, white, and blue in this NASA Hubble image of the globular cluster Messier 3 (M3).
Blue and white stars shine brightly against crimson gas in this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
Red, white, and blue stars glitter like a sparkler being waved on a dark night in this new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office.
2 Chinese classified satellites claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.
Tianlian is a Chinese data tracking and relay communications geostationary satellite series. The TL-3 (Tian Lian 3) satellites are the 3rd generation…
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
13th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Second flight of Starship V3. For the first time, Starship will carry 20 V3 Starlink sa…
Share-ride of 5 commercial Earth observation and technology demonstration satellites to SSO, including SpaceTY's TY-48. Details TBD.
Tianlian is a Chinese data tracking and relay communications geostationary satellite series. The TL 2 (Tian Lian 2) satellites represent the second g…
Carried 9 satellites on a share-ride to sun-synchronous orbit. Details TBD.
The Northrop Grumman/SpaceLogistics MRV-1 is a mission extension payload including a mission robotic vehicle (MRV) and multiple mission extension pod…
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.