Space Shuttle Challenger.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

1. Space Shuttle Orbiter that first flew on Apr. 4, 1983 (STS-6). 2. Nickname of the Apollo 17 Lunar Module. 3. United States Navy research vessel that made a prolonged study of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans between 1872 and 1876, and after which the two spacecraft were named. 

Among the milestones of the Orbiter Challengerwere the first spacewalk from a Shuttle (STS-6), the flight of the first American female astronaut (STS-7), the flight of the first African-American astronaut (STS-8), the first use of free-flying Manned Maneuvering Units during a spacewalk (STS-41B), and the first in-flight repair and redeployment of a satellite (STS-41C). 

Space Shuttle Discovery.

Space Shuttle Orbiter OV-103; it made its maiden flight on August 30, 1984 (STS-41D). Discovery was named after one of two ships captained by British explorer James Cook who sailed the South Pacific in the 1770s and discovered the Hawaiian Islands. Cook’s other ship, Endeavour, also inspired the name of a Space Shuttle. 

Two ships called "Discovery"

Shuttle Discovery’s milestones have included the first flight following the Challenger disaster (STS-26), the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope (STS-31) and of Ulysses (STS-41), the first female Shuttle pilot (STS-63), and the first Shuttle/Mir rendezvous (STS-63).