The third Orbiter (OV 103) taken into operation was baptized after two known
sailing ships on the name Discovery. With the first Discovery Henry Hudson
1610/11 sailed on the search for a northwest passage between the Atlantic
and the Pacific and discovered today's Hudson Bay. James Cook 1778 also
discovered an archipelago in the Pacific whom he called sandwich of Iceland
with a ship named Discovery, today's Hawaii. The space shuttle Discovery was
delivered to the Kennedy Space center in November 1983 and STS 41-D had its
first use with the mission on August 30th the following year. On this
occasion three satellites you exposed to and Judith Resnik flew as a second
American to the space. At the second Discovery mission (STS 51 A) the
astronauts Joseph Allen Und Dale Gardner managed in an effortful Eva
maneuver to capture the two deficient telecommunications satellites Westar
VI and Palapa B2. On the fourth flight (STS 51-D) Jeffrey Hofman and David
Griggs didn't manage to get the telecommunications satellite turned out
directly to the start, Leasat 3, going despite an exit carried out at short
notice in the space again. The astronauts William Fisher and Jame's Van
Hoften succeeded the satellite repair at the sixth Discovery mission (STS
51-I) 1985th ways of the attitude of all manned shuttle flights following
the Challenger accident got in August/September the Discovery not used the
next three years first. On September 29th, 1988, the end of this coercive
break came with the mission STS 26 at which the Discovery could weaken the
safety doubts arisen the Challenger catastrophe. This one wasn't
particularly different from the earlier Space shuttles externally on the
start platform. These appearances deceived, however: You had carried out at
the systems of the Space shuttle more than 400 greater and smaller changes
in the result of the Challenger accident. One had changed 150 details alone
at the two celebration substance start rockets (SRB) to exclude a repetition
of the perturbation which had caused the explosion of the Challenger. The
conductions of the outer tank and the main jet engines also had been
designed newly. The most extensive changes had, however, been carried out at
the Orbiter Discovery themselves, altogether 220. became more and more and
the Orbiter equipped with improved brakes, tires and steering systems the
heat shield in some places. The crew carried newly developed, orange-colored
pressure suits with an oxygen container of its own, parachute and rescue
rubber dinghy, now. In addition, the Orbiter was equipped with a new need
rescue system for a flight demolition in the glide phase: At a telescope
likely extensible bar the astronauts now if necessary herabgleiten let
themselves be known and win a safe distance of the Orbiter before opening
their parachutes. The Discovery finally started on September 29th, 1988
again went through a flight like from the textbook. When the Orbiter on
October 7th in Edwards Air Force landed cousin, the ground control noticed
in Houston highly correctly: "An excellent end of a new beginning!" Since
then, the Discovery is regularly again in the service of the space research:>>>
Mit ihrer Hilfe gestartet wurden das Hubble-Weltraumteleskop (STS-31) zur
Beobachtung weit entfernter Himmelskörper, die Raumsonde Ulysses (STS-41)
zur Untersuchung der Polarregionen der Sonne und der Forschungssatellit für
die oberen Schichten der Erdatmosphäre UARS (STS-48), der insbesondere den
Abbau der Ozonschicht mißt. With atlas (STS 56) another another earth's
atmosphere laboratory was transported.
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