Surely one of the most impressive sights any human can ever hope to see is the awe-inspiring launch of a mighty rocket spacecraft, be that in person, or more likely, on our TV screens. Following the success of NASA’s Apollo program, their next phase in space exploration was to develop a partially reusable, low-earth orbital space transportation system to allow more astronauts to travel into space by further extending the boundaries of engineering excellence. 

For this spacecraft combination to work as intended, one million individual components had to work in unison and, over 30 years, five of these Space Shuttles successfully achieved earth orbit, with ‘Discovery’ becoming their most active craft. This incredible spacecraft completed 39 flight missions and spent 365 days in space.