Discovery (OV-103)

      Background

        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 Antartic 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.

      Upgrades and Features

        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.

      Construction Milestones

      01/29/79 Contract Award
      08/27/79 Start long lead fabrication of Crew Module
      06/20/80 Start fabrication lower fuselage
      11/10/80 Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
      12/08/80 Start initial system installation aft fuselage
      03/02/81 Start fabrication/assembly of payload bay doors
      10/19/81 Start detailed fabrication/assembly of body flap
      10/26/81 Start initial system installation, crew module, Downey
      01/04/82 Start initial system installation upper forward fuselage
      03/16/82 Midfuselage on dock, Palmdale
      03/30/82 Elevons on dock, Palmdale
      04/30/82 Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
      04/30/82 Lower forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale
      07/16/82 Upper forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale
      08/05/82 Vertical stabilizer on dock, Palmdale
      09/03/82 Start of Final Assembly
      10/15/82 Body flap on dock, Palmdale
      01/11/83 Aft fuselage on dock, Palmdale
      02/25/83 Complete final assembly and closeout installation, Palmdale
      02/28/83 Start initial subsystems test, power-on, Palmdale
      05/13/83 Complete initial subsystems testing
      07/26/83 Complete subsystems testing
      08/12/83 Completed Final Acceptance
      10/16/83 Rollout from Palmdale
      11/05/83 Overland transport from Palmdale to Edwards
      11/09/83 Delivery to Kennedy Space Center
      06/02/84 Flight Readiness Firing
      08/30/84 First Flight (41-D)

      Discovery's Flights to date:

      01. 41-D (08/30/84)
      02. 51-A (11/08/84)
      03. 51-C (01/24/85)
      04. 51-D (04/12/85)
      05. 51-G (06/17/85)
      06. 51-I (08/27/85)
      07. STS-26 (09/29/88)
      08. STS-29 (03/13/89)
      09. STS-33 (11/22/89)
      10. STS-31 (04/24/90)
      11. STS-41 (10/06/90)
      12. STS-39 (4/28/91)
      13. STS-48 (09/12/91)
      14. STS-42 (01/22/92)
      15. STS-53 (12/02/92)
      16. STS-56 (04/08/93)
      17. STS-51 (09/12/93)
      18. STS-60 (02/03/94)
      19. STS-64 (09/09/94)
      20. STS-63 (02/03/95)
      21. STS-70 (07/13/95)
      22. STS-82 (02/11/97)

      Discovery underwent a nine-month Orbiter Maintenance Down Period (OMDP) in Palmdale California. The vehicle was outfitted with a 5th set of cryogenic tanks and an external airlock to support missions to the international Space Station. (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 8/25/1995). Discovery departed Palmdale, CA, riding piggy-back on a modified Boeing 747 at 10:01am EDT 6/28/96 and arrived at KSC on 6/29/96. (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 7/01/1996).

      23. STS-85 (8/7/97)
      24. STS-91 (6/2/98)
      25. STS-95 (10/29/98)

      Future Flights

      26. STS-96 (5/20/99 Estimated)
      27. STS-92 (11/6/99 Estimated)
      28. STS-102 (3/27/2000 Estimated)

      Discovery's Flight Logs to date:

      25 flights

      Other Orbiter Vehicles

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