Discovery poised for final homecoming
Space shuttle Discovery is set to bow out tomorrow with its final homecoming at the end of a distinguished career which began on 30 August, 1984. Discovery performs its flyaround of the International Space Station as both spacecraft orbit over the Sahara Desert. Pic: NASA TV The venerable vehicle has two landing opportunities …
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Years
Discovery will have "spent a total of 365 days in space" in 39 flights
Seems a suspiciously convenient number of days...
Shirley NASA didn't plan that? mind you, no, they would have got it wrong by forgetting leap years or something...
I wonder
I wonder if that 365 days value has been corrected for relativistic time dilation?
Added a day
ISTR that NASA added an extra day to this flight at the last minute (officially after arrival at the ISS).
A remarkable journey
And think how much technology has changed since her first launch.
May she have calm seas and a steady wind.
AC@13:59
"And think how much technology has changed since her first launch."
In terms of the outside world quite a lot. In terms of the Shuttle itself, not much.
NASA has spent at least a *billion* dollars on *developing* upgrades but *very* few have been retro-fitted.
It's retirement is *not* sad as it has reached (if not exceeded) its useful life, but the missed opportunities, the wrong conclusions drawn about future systems and the *disgraceful* behavior of some Senators *is*.
Discovery (and ISS)
Watched them speed across the night sky the other day, humbling.
Did you mean "bumbling"?
Overpriced govmt' project in the sky, where is my 2001-style space station and moonbase?
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