Welcome to my mind.: April 2012

Its been too long since my last post! Sometimes real life just gets in the way. But, today I needed to post something out of pure excitement...my family and I are going to welcome Space Shuttle Discovery to her new home at the Smithsonian Air & Space Udvar-Hazy Center this Friday.

What makes this so special is, Discovery (STS-128) was the first Space Shuttle launch I took Robbie and Michael to (this was before Ali). We watched Discovery bring daylight to the night sky after multiple scrubs! We had the honor and privilege to see her rocket into orbit from the NASA Causeway.

STS-128
Credit: NASA

Here are a few photo's and videos of Discovery in action!

I have made every effort to properly credit each photo.
Please let me know if you find any errors.

Milestones (via NASA Overview):

Jan 29, 1979 Contract Award
Aug 27, 1979 Start long lead fabrication of Crew Module
Jun 20, 1980 Start fabrication lower fuselage
Nov 10, 1980 Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
Dec 8, 1980 Start initial system installation aft fuselage
Mar 2, 1981 Start fabrication/assembly of payload bay doors
Oct 26, 1981 Start initial system installation, crew module, Downey
Jan 4, 1982 Start initial system installation upper forward fuselage
Mar 16, 1982 Midfuselage on dock, Palmdale
Mar 30, 1982 Elevons on dock, Palmdale
Apr 30, 1982 Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
Apr 30, 1982 Lower forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale
Jul 16, 1982 Upper forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale
Aug 5, 1982 Vertical stabilizer on dock, Palmdale
Sep 3, 1982 Start of Final Assembly
Oct 15, 1982 Body flap on dock, Palmdale
Jan 11, 1983 Aft fuselage on dock, Palmdale
Feb 25, 1983 Complete final assembly and closeout installation, Palmdale
Feb 28, 1983 Start initial subsystems test, power-on, Palmdale
May 13, 1983 Complete initial subsystems testing
Jul 26, 1983 Complete subsystems testing
Aug 12, 1983 Completed Final Acceptance
Oct 16, 1983 Rollout from Palmdale

Rollout - Palmdale, CA
Credit: NASA

Nov 5, 1983 Overland transport from Palmdale to Edwards
Nov 9, 1983 Delivery to Kennedy Space Center
Jun 2, 1984 Flight Readiness Firing
Aug 30, 1984 First Flight (41-D)

Collection of Construction Photos by Boeing
Via Space.com

Credit: Boeing

Flight Schedule and Notable Missions:

1 08/30/84 STS-41-D First Flight! And first ever Pad Abort!
2 11/08/84 STS-51-A
3 01/24/85 STS-51-C
4 04/12/85 STS-51-D
5 06/17/85 STS-51-G
6 08/27/85 STS-51-I
7 09/29/88 STS-26 First Return to Flight after Challenger (STS-51L)
8 03/13/89 STS-29
9 11/22/89 STS-33
10 04/24/90 STS-31 Launch of Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

STS-31 Hubble Release
Credit: NASA

11 10/06/90 STS-41
12 04/28/91 STS-39
13 09/12/91 STS-48
14 01/22/92 STS-42
15 12/02/92 STS-53
16 04/08/93 STS-56
17 09/12/93 STS-51 Second Pad Abort by Discovery
18 02/03/94 STS-60 First Russian Launched on a US Spacecraft
19 09/09/94 STS-64
20 02/03/95 STS-63 First Female Shuttle Pilot

STS-63: Shuttle Pilot Eileen Collins
Credit: NASA

21 07/13/95 STS-70
22 02/11/97 STS-82 Hubble Servicing Mission (HSM 2)
23 08/07/97 STS-85
24 06/02/98 STS-91 Final Shuttle-MIR Flight
25 10/29/98 STS-95 John Glenn's return to space flight

Sen. John Glenn: Return to Space
Credit: NASA

26 05/27/99 STS-96 First Shuttle to dock with the ISS
27 12/19/99 STS-103 Hubble Servicing Mission (HSM 3A)
28 10/11/00 STS-92 100th Space Shuttle Mission
29 03/08/01 STS-102
30 08/10/01 STS-105
31 07/26/05 STS-114 Second Return to Flight after Columbia (STS-107)
32 07/04/06 STS-121
33 12/09/06 STS-116 First night launch since Columbia, last launch from LC-39B
34 10/23/07 STS-120
35 05/31/08 STS-124
36 03/15/09 STS-119
37 08/28/09 STS-128
38 04/05/10 STS-131 Longest OV-103 mission at15 days
39 02/24/11 STS-133 Final Launch of OV-103

Photos: