The two-hour special coincides with Space Shuttle Discovery's April 19 arrival at National Air & Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
For 30 years, it was America's flagship in space, flying more miles, completing more missions, and delivering more hardware than any other spacecraft in history. Now, as the Space Shuttle enters America's pantheon of air and space achievement, Smithsonian Channel marks the end of an era with the premiere of SPACE SHUTTLE: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN on Sunday, April 22 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Through interviews with NASA scientists, administrators, astronauts and Smithsonian Institution historians, SPACE SHUTTLE: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN, tells the definitive story of the Shuttle era: its incredible achievements, its devastating tragedies - and the dream to make space travel affordable and routine.
The special is premiering just days after the Space Shuttle Discovery, the most accomplished vehicle in the fleet, is scheduled to make its much anticipated journey from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, where it will go on permanent display. The Smithsonian is planning a four-day celebration for its arrival.
When Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011, it was the program's 135th and final mission. And while the Shuttle program's tragedies - Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 - left indelible scars in the national memory, its achievements are less known and deserve recognition. Without the Space Shuttle there would be no Hubble Telescope, which transformed our understanding of the universe. With its enormous cargo bay, the Shuttle became a workhorse for transporting satellites and scientific equipment to space, enabling the construction of the International Space Station. It was also a powerful symbol of international collaboration.
The Shuttle itself, a re-usable spacecraft capable of bursting through the atmosphere and returning safely to Earth, was an extraordinary technical achievement.
