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Discovery (OV-103) |
Discovery, the third orbiter to become operational at Kennedy Space Center, was named after one of two ships that were used by the British explorer James Cook in the 1770s during voyages in the South Pacific that led to the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. Another of his ships was the
Endeavour, the namesake of NASA's newest orbiter.
Cook also used Discovery to explore the coasts of southern Alaska and northwestern Canada. During the American Revolutionary War, Benjamin Franklin made a safe conduct request for the British vessel because of the scientific importance of its research.
Other famous ships have carried the name Discovery, including one used by Henry Hudson to explore Hudson Bay in Canada as well as search for what was hoped to be the northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1610 and 1611. Another, based on whaling ship design, was used by the British Royal Geographical Society for an expedition to the North Pole in 1875. This organization then built another Discovery in 1901 to conduct its
Antarctic expedition that concluded in 1904. This ship still exists and is being preserved by the Society.
In the day-to-day world of Shuttle operations and processing, Space Shuttle orbiters go by a more prosaic designation. Discovery is commonly refered to as OV-103, for Orbiter Vehicle-103. Empty Weight was 151,419 lbs at rollout and 171,000 lbs with main engines installed.
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Discovery benefited from lessons learned in the construction and testing of
Enterprise, Columbia and
Challenger. At rollout, its weight was some 6,870 pounds less than
Columbia. Two orbiters, Challenger and
Discovery, were modified at KSC to enable them to carry the Centaur upper stage in the payload bay. These modifications included extra plumbing to load and vent Centaur's cryogenic (L02/LH2) propellants (other
IUS/PAM upper stages use solid propellants), and controls on the aft flight deck for loading and monitoring the Centaur stage. No Centaur flight was ever flown and after the loss of
Challenger it was decided that the risk was too great to launch a shuttle with a fueled Centaur upper stage in the payload bay.
January
29, 1979
Contract Award |
August
27, 1979
Start long lead fabrication of Crew Module |
June 20,
1980
Start fabrication lower fuselage |
November 10,
1980
Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage |
December 8,
1980
Start initial system installation aft fuselage |
March 2,
1981
Start fabrication/assembly of payload bay doors |
October
26, 1981
Start initial system installation, crew module, Downey |
January
4, 1982
Start initial system installation upper forward fuselage |
March
16, 1982
Midfuselage on dock, Palmdale |
March
30, 1982
Elevons on dock, Palmdale |
April
30, 1982
Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman |
April
30, 1982
Lower forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale |
July 16, 1982
Upper forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale |
August 5, 1982
Vertical stabilizer on dock, Palmdale |
September 3, 1982
Start of Final Assembly |
October 15, 1982 Body flap on dock, Palmdale |
January 11, 1983
Aft fuselage on dock, Palmdale |
February 25, 1983
Complete final assembly and closeout installation, Palmdale |
February 28, 1983
Start initial subsystems test, power-on, Palmdale |
May 13, 1983
Complete initial subsystems testing |
July 26, 1983
Complete subsystems testing |
August 12, 1983
Completed Final Acceptance |
October 16, 1983
Rollout from Palmdale |
November 5, 1983
Overland transport from Palmdale to Edwards |
November 9, 1983
Delivery to Kennedy Space Center |
June 2, 1984
Flight Readiness Firing |
August 30, 1984
First Flight (41-D)
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Discovery's Flights to
Date |
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To OMDP (Palmdale) 9/23/99 (Reference KSC Press Release 74-99)
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