Image #210214

I was looking through some old photographs and came across images of the landing of Orbiter Discovery on the STS-133 space shuttle mission to the International Space Station.  The mission flew from February 24th to March 9, 2011 and was Discovery’s 35th and last mission into space before being retired.  The photographs of the landing were taken from a secluded dirt road inside Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge almost underneath Discovery’s flight path, which made for some dramatic images.  Plus it was very exciting to see the orbiter pass by so close.

Eventually Discovery was retired and flown atop a carrier 747 out of Kennedy Space Center for display at the National Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center. Click here to see images of the retirement of the space shuttles.