Space Shuttle Discovery Cleared for Final Launch

The most-traveled spacecraft in history is set to take off from Cape Canaveral, FL Thursday afternoon.

Discovery has been on 38 missions, orbited the Earth 5,628 times, and spent 352 days in space. If it goes ahead as planned, it will launch Thursday for the final time and be decommissioned after returning from its 11-day voyage. After 34 years, NASA is winding down its space shuttle program, and will decommission the remaining Endeavour and Atlantis spacecrafts by this summer. The Discovery launch was initially scheduled for November but was delayed when cracks were found in its fuel tanks. NASA officials said inspections have been completed, the weather at Cape Canaveral is good, and Discovery has received a “unanimous go” for launch at 4:30 pm EST.