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Discovery payload bay and doors sealed for History inside Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at KSC.

In between, Discovery deployed the iconic Hubble Space Telescope, launched the Ulysses solar probe and numerous other science satellites and Department of Defense surveillance platforms, conducted the first shuttle rendezvous with Russia’s Mir Space Station and delivered key components to the International Space Station including the last habitable module. All told Discovery soared 39 times to space from her maiden flight in 1984 to her last touchdown on the STS-133 mission in March 2011. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflettĭiscovery was the Fleet leader and NASA’s oldest orbiter having flown the most missions. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., in 2012. Discovery is being prepared for public display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F.

Discovery's doors were closed and the vehicle was powered down for the final time. Discovery’s payload bay is glimpsed for the final time as its doors swing shut with the aid of yellow-painted strongbacks, hardware used to support and operate the doors when the shuttle is not in space. Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana, a former space shuttle commander, formally marked the final power down and sealing of Discovery’s payload bay doors at a ceremony in OPF-1 with the skeleton force of remaining shuttle personnel engaged in the decommissioning efforts. They are converting the orbiter from active duty flight status to display as a nonfunctional and stationary museum piece. Workers at KSC are in the final stages of the transition and retirement activities that will soon lead to Discovery departing her Florida launch pad forever on her final voyage. The historic “Power Down” came after both of the 60 foot long cargo bay doors were swung shut this morning for the last time inside the shuttle hanger known as Orbiter Processing Facility-1 (OPF-1) – in the shadow of the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Take a good last glimpse inside the retiring Discovery’s payload bay as the clamshell like doors seal off all indigenous US human spaceflight capability for several years at a minimum. 16, by technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Space Shuttle Discovery was powered down forever and the payload bay doors were locked tight for the final time on Friday, Dec.