On this day in 1984, the Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off for the first time from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida¹. The craft flew 39 missions, including the one to deploy the Hubble Telescope. The shuttle flew for the last time in 2011 and is currently in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The shuttle in the photo above was pictured in Dunmore, Co. Galway earlier in the summer.
¹Among the crew of six on the maiden voyage was Judith Resnik who was among the 7 astronauts killed in the Challenger disaster in 1986.