Discovery Space Shuttle | Blueprint Design Art Print

**Please note that the borders around the picture may vary depending on the size of the print ordered to make sure that it fits comfortably* Significance: Discovery, NASA's third Orbiter to join the fleet, was named after one of the two ships that were used by British explorer James Cook in the 1770s. It was the first Orbiter built solely for operations and not for testing and benefited from the knowledge gained from the construction, assembly and testing of the Orbiters Enterprise, Columbia and Challenger. When it was completed, Discovery was almost 7,000 pounds lighter than Columbia. Discovery arrived at the Kennedy Center in Florida on November 9, 1983. After checkout, testing and processing, it was launched on August 30, 1984, for its first mission, 41-D, to deploy three communications satellites. Since its inaugural flight Discovery has completed 39 missions, more flights than any other orbiter in NASA'a fleet, carried 252 crew members, spent 365 days in space and traveled over 148,000,000 miles.