Discovery+lands+safely

 Melancholy shocked the world with the tragedy of the Space Shuttle accident in 2003. The //Columbia//, on its final mission, broke apart in the atmosphere when a piece of foam from the external fuel tank peeled off and created a hole in which hot gases got into the shuttle and led to its destruction. All seven crew members died, and NASA worked vigorously to learn from the mistakes of this incident in high hopes of sending another shuttle successfully into space. Dr. Robert Butterworth, a psychologist and bereavement specialist, says that the space program is so important to people because "there are so few places left in our society where we can agree, where we're not debating and fighting with each other," and it brings everyone together on something that will not become a universal conflict.

In 1983, //Discovery// made its first appearance at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as NASA's third space shuttle orbiter to join the fleet. After more than thirty successful trips into space, it was launched in July of 2005, carrying the STS-114 crew on the Return to Flight mission. //Discovery// obtained its name after the sailing forerunners used in the early 1600s by Henry Hudson to explore Hudson Bay and search for a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But instead of exploring the seas, //Discovery// was meant to explore the heavens. Auspiciously, after being launched in July, the shuttle returned safely in the early morning hours of August 9 at Edwards Air Force Base in California. After flying 9.3 million kilometers during nearly 14 days in orbit, //Discovery//’s safe landing ended the STS-114 mission.

During its many victorious trips into space, //Discovery// has carried satellites aloft, ferried modules and crew to the International Space Station, and provided the setting for  countless scientific experiments. NASA launch director, Mike Leinbach, remarked, "On July 26 we all sat here and said the only thing better than (// Discovery //'s) launch would [be] landing day, and I'm here to tell you it was truly better. // Discovery //'s home, the crew is safe and we've come full circle." Reassurance guaranteed many more successful launches in the future. Thus opened many doors for future NASA scientific experimentations. But the United States soon stopped jumping from joy with a heartbreaking incident that occurred only twenty days later to devastate the lives of millions.