
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Space Shuttle Discovery makes a smooth landing on the runway at Edwards Air Force Base to complete a highly successful five-day mission. It was an Earth-orbital flight during which the Hubble Space Telescope was sent toward its 15-year mission. Landing was completed at 6:51 a.m. (PDT), April 29, 1990. Inside the spacecraft for STS-31 were Astronauts Loren J. Shriver, Charles F. Bolden, Bruce McCandless II, Kathryn D. Sullivan and Steven A. Hawley.

Karol Bobko, who commanded STS-51, the first flight of space shuttle Atlantis, background, speaks at the signing ceremony, Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The spacecraft traveled 125,935,769 miles during 33 spaceflights, including 12 missions to the International Space Station. Its final flight, STS-135, closed out the Space Shuttle Program era with a landing on July 21, 2011. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

STS031-S-135 (29 April 1990) --- The Space Shuttle Discovery makes a smooth landing on the runway at Edwards Air Force Base to complete a highly successful five-day mission. It was an Earth orbital flight during which the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was sent toward its 15-year mission. Landing was completed at 6:51 a.m. (PDT), April 29, 1990. Inside the spacecraft for STS-31 were Astronauts Loren J. Shriver, Charles F. Bolden, Bruce McCandless II, Kathryn D. Sullivan and Steven A. Hawley.

STS031-S-131 (29 April 1990) --- Low angle view of the Space Shuttle Discovery as it approaches for landing on a concrete runway at Edwards Air Force Base to complete a highly successful five-day mission. It was a long awaited Earth orbital flight during which the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was sent toward its 15-year mission. Discovery's wheels came to a complete stop at 6:51:00 a.m. (PDT), April 29, 1990. The landing gear was deployed just moments after this frame was exposed. Inside the spacecraft for STS-31 were astronauts Loren J. Shriver, Charles F. Bolden, Bruce McCandless II, Kathryn D. Sullivan and Steven A. Hawley.

S93-31929 (24 March 1993) --- The three mission specialists for NASA's STS-51 mission watch as a crewmate (out of frame) simulates a parachute jump into water during emergency bailout training exercises at the Johnson Space Center's Weightless Environment Training Facility (WET-F). Left to right are astronauts Daniel W. Bursch, Carl E. Walz and James H. Newman. Out of frame are astronauts Frank L. Culbertson and William F. Readdy, commander and pilot, respectively.