Space Shuttle Discovery alone. "Discovery" flew all three "return to flight" missions after the "Challenger" and "Columbia" disasters: STS-26 in 1988, STS-114 in 2005, and STS-121 in 2006. "Discovery" flew the ante-penultimate mission of the Space Shuttle program, STS-133, having launched on February 24, 2011. "Endeavour" flew STS-134 and "Atlantis" performed STS-135, NASA's last Space Shuttle mission. On February 24, 2011, Space Shuttle "Discovery" launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39-A to begin its final orbital flight. The Flow Director was responsible for the overall preparation of the shuttle for launch and processing it after landing, and remained permanently assigned to head
Space Shuttle thermal protection system free by hand, and caused no damage to the TPS on "Discovery". , with the impending Space Shuttle retirement, NASA is donating TPS tiles to schools, universities, and museums for the cost of shipping; each. About 7000 tiles were available on a first-come, first-served basis, but limited to one each per institution. Space Shuttle thermal protection system The Space Shuttle thermal protection system (TPS) is the barrier that protected the Space Shuttle Orbiter during the searing heat of atmospheric reentry. A secondary goal was to protect from the heat and cold of space while in orbit. The TPS covered essentially