STS-33 (Discovery)
STS-33 (Discovery)
Launch Date
November 22, 1989
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
5
STS-33 (Discovery)
STS-33 (Discovery)
Launch Date
November 22, 1989
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
5
Overview
Classified Department of Defense flight.
Crafts
Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The first reusable launch and landing spacecraft, the Space Shuttle began a new chapter of human space exploration. It launched like a rocket but landed on a runway like a plane. Shuttle crews deployed dozens of commercial satellites and two interplanetary probes to Venus and Jupiter. The Shuttle served as a mini space station and hosted hundreds of biomedical, psychological, physiological, materials science, and physics experiments that have directly benefited life on Earth. The five flight-worthy Shuttles -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions over 30 years. The Shuttles helped construct the Russian Mir space station and brought nearly 80% of the International Space Station to orbit. Shuttles also deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope.