@ Kennedy Space Center, FL
April 1990
Space Shuttle Discovery is seen here at Launch Complex 39B, prior to the April 1990 launch of STS-31 which carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. The white box at the left, with the NASA logo, is the Payload Canister in which we transported the Hubble Space Telescope to the launch pad. The canister, which mimics the Space Shuttle payload bay, is shown mated to a clean room in the center of the Rotating Service Structure. The HST was transferred to the clean room, the canister removed, the RSS swings into position encompassing the Shuttle, payload doors are opened, and the HST was placed onboard. Launch Complex 39B was extensively reconfigured for the ill-fated Ares program which was cancelled after one launch in 2009.
Of all the Space Shuttles built, the Discovery has to be my favorite. Not only is it the Shuttle that carried the Hubble into orbit, it is also the only Space Shuttle I had the privilege to climb into while I was working on the HST program. Entering service in 1984, Discovery was the third Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle to fly in space. Discovery flew 39 missions, spent a total of 365 days in space, and traveled almost 150 million miles–more than the other orbiters. It brought 184 men and women into space and back, for a record-setting total crew count of 251. Discovery is now displayed at the Smithsonian as intact as possible as it last flew in 2011 on the 133rd Space Shuttle mission. NASA transferred Discovery to the Smithsonian in April 2012 after a delivery flight over the nation’s capital. Olympus OM-1 w/Vivitar 28-85mm.