On August 30, 1984, Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off for her first flight, joining NASA’s fleet of two other orbiters, Columbia (1981) and Challenger (1983). Alert readers of FEF’s Fusion magazine may recall that half of Columbia’s crew were subscribers.
Discovery was remarkable for several reasons:
• It was the most-flown and busiest orbiter in NASA’s fleet, logging a record 39 missions over 27 years of service
• It carried and deployed the Hubble Space Telescope in April 1990
