Shuttle Discovery Makes Final Flight
CAPE CANAVERAL (CBS4) – Space shuttle Discovery lifted off on its final voyage shortly before 5:00 p.m. Thursday. Discovery is NASA's most traveled space shuttle with nearly three decades of service.
Discovery's flight Thursday was the 39th mission the shuttle has flown in its history. It was originally supposed to fly late last year, but problems cropped up and the repairs took nearly four months.
NASA had to repair cracks in the midsection of the external fuel tank after hydrogen gas seeped out in November. The cracks were in a section that held instruments, but no fuel.
Discovery will head to the International Space Station with a 6-person crew, as well as a load of supplies and a humanoid robot.
Discovery will spend 11 days in orbit -- on top of the 352 days it's already spent circling the planet -- and will rack up another 4.5 million miles. Discovery has logged 143 million miles since its first flight in 1984.
Its list of achievements include delivering the Hubble Space Telescope to orbit, carrying the first Russian cosmonaut to launch on a U.S. spaceship, returning Mercury astronaut John Glenn to orbit, and bringing shuttle flights back to life after the Challenger and Columbia accidents.
NASA is under presidential direction to retire the shuttle fleet this summer, let private companies take over trips to orbit and focus on getting astronauts to asteroids and Mars. There's been considerable disagreement among lawmakers and the space community on how best to accomplish this.
"Godspeed Discovery," retired space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said in a Twitter update Thursday. "Prayers for a safe flight and wisdom for decision makers." A Cocoa Beach church similarly proclaimed, "The heavens await Discovery."
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