Edwards AFB News

Space shuttle Discovery astronauts help TPS students glimpse heights

  • Published
  • By Kenji Thuloweit
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  United States Air Force Test Pilot School students got a glimpse of how far they can soar in the school's Skobee Auditorium April 26.

NASA astronauts Steve Lindsey and Alvin Drew outlined the final mission of space shuttle Discovery to the students during a visit to the flight test center.

Mr. Lindsey, who commanded the recent STS-133 Discovery mission to the International Space Station, and Mr. Drew, a mission specialist who participated in the mission's two spacewalks, provided an overview of the mission highlights, including a video with footage shot during the mission.

Mr. Lindsey is a retired Air Force colonel and fighter pilot who attended TPS in 1989.

"I won't mention when I was here at the test pilot school, but you were all probably in grade school," joked Mr. Lindsey. "But, we did have jets back then."

Discovery was the longest-serving veteran of NASA's space shuttle fleet. Since 1984, Discovery flew 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited Earth 5,830 times and traveled 148,221,675 miles.

Mr. Lindsey observed that Discovery has held up well over the years and numerous missions.

"Literally, when we landed there was absolutely nothing wrong with the vehicle. Every single system was working fine, every single back-up system was working fine," Mr. Lindsey said.

"If you wrote forms on it, there would be no write-ups, it [would] be - Code 1.'"

He said that the remarkable condition Discovery was in following its last mission is "amazing," considering it is a space vehicle and has been flying for 30 years.

STS-133 was the 133rd shuttle flight and the 35th shuttle mission dedicated to space station assembly and maintenance. The mission also brought critical spare components and the Express Logistics Carrier 4 to the space station. Robonaut 2, or R2, became the first human-like robot in space and a permanent resident of the station. The mission's two spacewalks assisted in outfitting the truss of the station and completed a variety of other tasks designed to upgrade station systems.

Mr. Drew, who served as a flight engineer on STS-133, said sensors on Discovery have collected data that is still being analyzed for future aerospace studies. "It's still an experimental test vehicle."

Mr. Lindsey and Mr. Drew held a question-and-answer period with the students and then moved on to NASA Dryden in the afternoon to brief NASA employees on Discovery's final mission.

After it completes its decontamination process, Discovery will replace space shuttle Enterprise in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum near Washington D.C.

The visit came three days before the scheduled launch April 29 of space shuttle Endeavour on its final mission, STS-134.