The final touchdown of space shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Space Center in Florida earlier this month marked the end of a remarkable career for the oldest of the surviving NASA shuttles. Since its first mission in 1984, Discovery has carried out 39 flights and traveled more than 143 million miles. It was the first shuttle to return to service after the Challenger and Columbia accidents, it carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, has docked 13 times with the International Space Station and carried more than 250 crew members (including the oldest man in space - John Glenn).

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Discovery's 13-day final flight (STS-133) was the 133rd Space Shuttle Program mission and the 35th shuttle voyage to the space station. The Shuttle is now undergoing a series of post flight inspections before its engines are removed and it is retired to a museum. NASA will keep the sophisticated engines for design purposes or for possible use on a future rocket.

The final chapter for the Space Shuttle Program

The Space Shuttle program is drawing to a close with Endeavor and Atlantis set to make their final flights in coming months. Endeavor will blast-off in April for a 14 day mission to the ISS and Atlantis is scheduled to make its last voyage in late June 2011. This will be the 135th and final scheduled shuttle flight.