A third shuttle joins the fleet: Discovery lifts off from Kennedy Space Center

Three years into the Space Shuttle program, NASA had only two working orbiters, Columbia and Challenger, and a growing list of satellites waiting for a ride. On August 30, 1984, at 8:41:50 a.m., Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, carrying commander Henry Hartsfield, pilot Michael Coats, and mission specialists Mike Mullane, Steven Hawley, Judith Resnik, and Charles Walker. Over the next six days the crew deployed three satellites and ran the OAST-1 solar array experiment before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on September 5. It was the twelfth shuttle mission, and the first for Discovery…