CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - It
was 15 years ago today that shuttle Discovery lifted off on the STS-26 mission,
returning NASA to flight nearly three years after the 1986
Challenger disaster.
Rick Hauck, Dick Covey,
Pinky Nelson, Dave Hilmers and Mike Lounge were the five astronauts aboard Discovery
as it launched from pad 39B with a set of newly designed solid rocket boosters
and hundreds of other safety
improvements.
Their mission principally was deploy a Tracking and Data Relay System communications
satellite just like the one that was lost with Challenger. But the most significant
accomplishments of the flight was to set America's spirit soaring again following
a national tragedy, and to pay tribute to seven fallen colleagues.
All these years later, amidst debate about the future of the space program,
most of the aerospace community is looking forward to a repeat of this return
to flight scene and enjoying the emotional high that will finally heal the accompanying
low that's been with us since the Feb. 1 loss
of Columbia and its crew.
Return to flight this time currently is expected some time in 2004. For the
latest news on NASA's efforts to fly shuttles again, see SPACE.com's
new special report: Fixing NASA
- Continuing Coverage of the Space Shuttle Return to Flight.
-- Jim Banke
Credit: NASA
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