Space Shuttle Discovery Has Retired!

The Space Shuttle Discovery has returned from its final mission and proved itself a worthy craft. From AOL news:

It made its debut in 1984 following shuttles Columbia and Challenger, dispatched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990, flew the first shuttle rendezvous to Russia's Mir space station and carried the first female shuttle pilot in 1995, and gave another ride into space to John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, in 1998.

It got NASA flying again, in 1988 and 2005, following the Challenger and Columbia disasters. And it flew 13 times to the International Space Station, more than any other craft. On its last trip, it delivered a new storage compartment packed with supplies and a humanoid robot.

NASA's boss, Charles Bolden, a former shuttle commander, led the welcoming party. He'll announce the final homes for Endeavour and Atlantis on April 12 - 30 years to the day that Columbia soared on the first shuttle flight.
NASA planned to move Endeavour out to the launch pad Wednesday night for its April 19 liftoff, but delayed the move until Thursday because bad weather was expected. The mission will be commanded by the husband of wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Mark Kelly. His identical twin brother Scott is currently the skipper of the space station; he returns to Earth next week on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Atlantis is slated to make its last trip at the end of June.

It looks like one down and two to go!
Read entire article HERE.