Space Shuttle Discovery in the context of "STS-127"

A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and function as a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplanes tend to be more similar to conventional spacecraft, while sub-orbital spaceplanes tend to be more similar to fixed-wing aircraft. All spaceplanes as of 2024 have been rocket-powered for takeoff and climb, but have then landed as unpowered gliders.

Four examples of spaceplanes have successfully launched to orbit, reentered Earth's atmosphere, and landed: the U.S. Space Shuttle, Russian Buran, U.S. X-37, and the Chinese Shenlong. Another, Dream Chaser, is under development in the U.S. As of 2024 all past and current orbital spaceplanes launch vertically; some are carried as a payload in a conventional fairing, while the Space Shuttle used its own engines with the assistance of boosters and an external tank. Orbital spaceflight takes place at high velocities, with orbital kinetic energies typically greater than suborbital trajectories. This kinetic energy is shed as heat during re-entry. Many more spaceplanes have been proposed.

NASA's series of Great Observatories satellites are four large, powerful space-based astronomical telescopes launched between 1990 and 2003. They were built with different technology to examine specific wavelength/energy regions of the electromagnetic spectrum: gamma rays, X-rays, visible and ultraviolet light, and infrared light.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) primarily observes visible light and near-ultraviolet. It was launched in 1990 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery during STS-31, but its main mirror had been ground incorrectly, resulting in spherical aberration that compromised the telescope's capabilities. The optics were corrected to their intended quality by the STS-61 servicing mission in 1993. In 1997, the STS-82 servicing mission added capability in the near-infrared range, and in 2009 the STS-125 servicing mission refurbished the telescope and extended its projected service life. It remains in active operation as of October 2024.

STS-124 was the 35th mission of Space Shuttle Discovery. It went to the International Space Station on this mission. Discovery launched on May 31, 2008, at 17:02 EDT, moved from an earlier scheduled launch date of May 25, 2008, and landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, at 11:15 EDT on June 14, 2008. Its objective was to deliver the largest module of the space station – Kibō, the Japanese Experiment Module pressurized section. The mission is also referred to as ISS-1J by the ISS program.

The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle, a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1981 to 2011 by NASA, the U.S. space agency, this vehicle could carry astronauts and payloads into low Earth orbit, perform in-space operations, then re-enter the atmosphere and land as a glider, returning its crew and any on-board payload to the Earth.

Six orbiters were built for flight: Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. All were built in Palmdale, California, by the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Rockwell International company's North American Aircraft Operations branch. The first orbiter, Enterprise, made its maiden flight in 1977. An unpowered glider, it was carried by a modified Boeing 747 airliner called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and released for a series of atmospheric test flights and landings. Enterprise was partially disassembled and retired after completion of critical testing. The remaining orbiters were fully operational spacecraft, and were launched vertically as part of the Space Shuttle stack.

STS-85 was the 23rd flight of Space Shuttle Discovery that performed multiple space science packages. It was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 7 August 1997. The main STS-85 payloads included the satellite known as Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere-Shuttle Pallet Satellite-2 CRISTA-SPAS-02.

STS-31 was the 35th mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the tenth flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The primary purpose of this mission was the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) into low Earth orbit. Discovery lifted off from Launch Complex 39B on April 24, 1990, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Following the Challenger accident clarification was required on mission numbering. As STS-51-L was also designated STS-33, future flights with the previous STS-26 through STS-33 designators would require the R in their documentation to avoid conflicts in tracking data from one mission to another.

STS-82 was the 22nd flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery and the 82nd mission of the Space Shuttle program. It was NASA's second mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, during which Discovery's crew repaired and upgraded the telescope's scientific instruments, increasing its research capabilities. Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 11, 1997, returning to Earth on February 21, 1997, at Kennedy Space Center.

STS-119 (ISS assembly flight 15A) was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was flown by Space Shuttle Discovery during March 2009. It was Discovery's 36th flight. It delivered and assembled the fourth starboard Integrated Truss Segment (S6), and the fourth set of solar arrays and batteries to the station. The launch took place on March 15, 2009, at 19:43 EDT. Discovery successfully landed on March 28, 2009, at 15:13 pm EDT.