Space Shuttle Discovery March 9, having spent a cumulative total of almost a full year in space. "Discovery" performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions. It also carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. "Discovery" was the first operational shuttle to be retired, followed by "Endeavour" and then "Atlantis". The name "Discovery" was chosen to carry on a tradition based on ships of exploration, primarily , one of the ships commanded by Captain James Cook during his third and final major voyage from 1776 to 1779, and Henry Hudson's , which was used in 1610–1611 to explore Hudson Bay and
Space Shuttle Inspiration Space Shuttle Inspiration Space Shuttle "Inspiration" is a full-scale Space Shuttle mockup built in 1972 by North American Rockwell. The plastic and wood model was made to promote the company's bid to construct the Space Shuttle fleet. The Space Shuttle Orbiter mockup was constructed by North American Rockwell in 1972. It was shown to NASA and Congress to win approval for the space shuttle program. The mockup is approximately the same size and shape as an actual Orbiter. It was also used to design cable harnesses for production shuttle Orbiters and to test-fit flight hardware. The mockup was abandoned in