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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Дискавери отправляется в путь http://variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1263687/eng |
Credit & Copyright: Ben
Cooper
(Launch Photography)
Explanation:
Climbing into cloudy skies,
the Space Shuttle Orbiter Discovery (OV-103)
took off from Kennedy Space Center Tuesday at 7 am local time.
This time,
its final departure from KSC, it rode atop a
modified Boeing 747
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
Following a
farewell
flyover of the
Space Coast,
Goddard Space Flight Center, and Washington DC,
Discovery headed for Dulles International Airport in Virginia,
destined to reside at the
Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center.
Discovery retires as
NASA's most traveled shuttle orbiter,
covering more than 148 million miles in 39 missions that included
the delivery of the
Hubble Space Telescope to orbit.
Operational
from 1984 through 2011, Discovery spent a total
of one year in space.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.