This month the space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch on the final mission of its 26-year career. (See pictures of some of Discovery's milestone moments.) Named after a series of historic exploration ships, Discovery made its maiden voyage into space on August 30, 1984. Since then it's logged the most flight hours of any space shuttle in NASA's fleet: Discovery has flown 38 missions into s
![Why Space Shuttle Discovery Is "Machine With Personality"](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/98171aa2716fd66d7435867dd868e12ac6df3957/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fi.natgeofe.com%2Fn%2F5fe83bcf-e839-4996-b500-dcef0d45866c%2F28231_16x9.jpg%3Fw%3D1200)