NASA launched Discovery into orbit on this day in 1988; all about the manned space shuttle

On this day in history, September 29, 1988, NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on STS-26, on its 26th mission of the space shuttle program and 7th mission for Discovery. In a press release, NASA revealed that crew of Commander Frederick H. Hauck, pilot Richard Covey and specialists John Lounge, David Hilmers, and George "Pinky" Nelson went into space for the four-day mission on the spaceflights in the first veteran astronauts take off. 

Over the years NASA’s Discovery flew 39 missions, more than any other vehicle in the fleet. Its 26-year spaceflight career began Aug. 30, 1984, with six astronauts launched into orbit on the STS-41D mission. The US Senator John Glenn rocketed into orbit aboard Discovery as a member of the STS-95 crew in the mission that deployed NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope from Discovery's payload bay. However, NASA lost its 7 astronauts in a tragedy of Space Shuttle Challenger explosion at Cape Canaveral as the space shuttle STS-51L blasted only 73 seconds after liftoff due to a glitch in the o-ring of the solid rocket booster that caused engine failure.

[The US space shuttle Discovery with five-man crew lifts off from launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA]

[Four years before exploding over Kennedy Space Center, Space Shuttle Challenger creeps through the Florida fog on its way to Launch Pad 39A before its first liftoff on the STS-6 mission in 1982. Credit: NASA]

NASA lost its entire crew which included Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher who was the first civilian to participate in NASA’s ‘Teacher in Space’ mission. In a press address, US President Ronald Reagan informed about the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger, saying, that three astronauts of NASA were killed in the accident. After nearly three years of the tragedy, NASA returned to space with its Space Shuttle Discovery launch on September 29, 1988.

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$2 billion (Dh7.35 billion) spaceship 

The Discovery mission came to be known as NASA’s "Return to Flight" post the STS-107 disaster. Discovery STS-41-D  first flown in 1984, touched down with completion of its total 39 missions on March 9, 2011, on STS-133. The $2 billion (Dh7.35 billion) spaceship consisted of solid-fuel rocket boosters which were America’s first manned spaceflight in more than two-and-a-half years launched by NASA. “The STS-133 mission to the space station was Discovery's final spaceflight. Led by Commander Steve Lindsey, the six-person shuttle crew delivered the Permanent Multipurpose Module, offering extra room for science tasks and storage, and Robonaut 2, a humanoid robotic helper,” NASA wrote in the release. Discovery touched down on Kennedy's Runway 15 and ran for148 million miles after spending one year in space.

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