Amazing Photos from the Space Shuttle Discovery

Mission Truly Accomplished
Discovery piggybacks its way back to Cape Canaveral atop a 747, after landing in California at the end of a July-to-August mission in 2005. That mission was the first after the tragic loss of the Columbia orbiter in February 2003. It was the second time Discovery had played such a confidence-restoring role, also flying the September 1988 return-to-flight mission that followed the break-up of the Challenger in January 1986.

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