STS-121 (Discovery)
STS-121 (Discovery)
Launch Date
July 4, 2006
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
7
STS-121 (Discovery)
STS-121 (Discovery)
Launch Date
July 4, 2006
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
7
Overview
The second Return To Flight Space Shuttle mission after Columbia demonstrated all safety enhancements, this flight resupplied and prepared the International Space Station for the restart of construction and increased the Station's crew size back to three people. This mission was the third Return To Flight mission overall for the Shuttle Program, and all three were flown by Discovery.
Crafts
Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The first reusable launch and landing spacecraft, the Space Shuttle began a new chapter of human space exploration. It launched like a rocket but landed on a runway like a plane. Shuttle crews deployed dozens of commercial satellites and two interplanetary probes to Venus and Jupiter. The Shuttle served as a mini space station and hosted hundreds of biomedical, psychological, physiological, materials science, and physics experiments that have directly benefited life on Earth. The five flight-worthy Shuttles -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions over 30 years. The Shuttles helped construct the Russian Mir space station and brought nearly 80% of the International Space Station to orbit. Shuttles also deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope.