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In Pictures: Space photos of the day: A Blue Planet
In this image provided by NASA, the Space Shuttle Discovery is seen from the International Space Station as the two orbital spacecraft accomplish their relative separation on March 7, after an aggregate of 12 astronauts and cosmonauts worked together for over a week. The area below is the southwestern coast of Morocco in the northern Atlantic.
The space shuttle Discovery is seen from the International Space Station as the two orbital spacecraft accomplish their relative separation on March 7. During a post undocking fly-around, the crew of each vessel photographed the opposite craft.
An emergency vehicle stands by near the runway as space shuttle Discovery comes in for its last landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 9.
In this image provided by NASA the space shuttle Discovery is seen from the International Space Station as the two orbital spacecraft accomplish their relative separation on March 7. Discovery has ended its nearly 27-year flying career.
The Space Shuttle Discovery is seen shortly after the Rotating Service Structure was rolled back at launch pad 39A, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday, Feb. 23. Discovery, on its 39th and final flight, will carry the Italian-built Permanent Multipurpose Module, Express Logistics Carrier 4 and Robonaut 2, the first humanoid robot in space, to the International Space Station.
The Space Shuttle Discovery hitched a ride on NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the flight from the Dryden Flight Research Center in California, to Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 19, 2005.
The Space Shuttle Discovery soars skyward from Launch Pad 39B on Mission STS-64 at 6:22:35 p.m. EDT, September 9, 1994.
Backdropped by a blue and white Earth and the blackness of space, the Space Shuttle Discovery's docking mechanism (top foreground), payload bay, Remote Manipulator System Orbiter Boom Sensor System, vertical stabilizer, and orbital maneuvering system pods appear in this photo taken by a STS-119 crewmember during the 12th day of flight in March 2009.
The STS-29 Space Shuttle Discovery mission approaches for a landing at NASA's then Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards Air Force Base, California, early Saturday morning, March 18, 1989.
Astronauts Carl J. Meade and Mark C. Lee (red strip on suit) test the new Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) system some 130 nautical miles above Earth. The pair was actually performing an in-space rehearsal or demonstration of a contingency rescue using never-before flown hardware.
The Hubble Space Telescope is raised above the payload bay in low hover position during STS-31 checkout and pre-deployment procedures aboard Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle 103 in 1990.
STS-95 mission Commander Curtis Brown (l.) and Payload Specialist John Glenn are photographed on the aft flight deck of Discovery during a press conference in 1998.
Xenon lights over Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida compete with the lightning strike seen to the left. Space shuttle Discovery is on the pad waiting for a scheduled liftoff on the STS-128 mission in 2009.
As it arcs into space, space shuttle Discovery is lit by sunlight after leaving the darker skies over NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the STS-119 mission. Liftoff was on time at 7:43 p.m. on March 15, 2009.
Space shuttle Discovery lit up the sky at sunset as it roared off Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on its mission to the International Space Station. The STS-119 mission was the 28th to the space station and Discovery's 36th flight. Discovery delivered the final pair of power-generating solar array wings and the S6 truss segment.
Dwarfed by space shuttle Discovery and with Earth's horizon and the blackness of space providing the backdrop for the scene, NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio (r.) and Clayton Anderson worked in Discovery's aft payload bay.
STS-26 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle 103, mated with the external tank and solid rocket boosters, rolls out of Kennedy Space Center's vehicle assembly building. This high angle view looks almost directly down of OV-103, ET, and SRBs nose cones and the mobile launch pad.
This high angle overall view taken with a 'fish eye' lens captures the STS-31 crew activity on the middeck of the Earth-orbiting Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle 103 in 1990.
This view of the underside of the crew cabin of the space shuttle Discovery was provided by the Expedition 23 crew during a survey as STS-131 approached the International Space Station. As part of the survey and part of every mission's activities, Discovery performed a back-flip for the rendezvous pitch maneuver.
Space shuttle Discovery is silhouetted against the dawn sky as it rolls out to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2009.
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In a public ceremony, NASA officially delivered the Space Shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Thursday.
NASA officially delivered the space shuttle Discovery, its longest serving crewed spacecraft, to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on Thursday (April 19) during a public ceremony to hand over the iconic winged spacecraft.
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