On this day in space! July 26, 2005: Space shuttle Discovery returns to flight

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On July 26, 2005, the space shuttle Discovery launched on the first return-to-flight mission following the Columbia disaster that killed seven crewmembers a little over two years earlier.

On July 26, 2005, the space shuttle Discovery launched on the first return-to-flight mission following the Columbia disaster that killed seven crewmembers a little over two years earlier.

A few seconds after launching from Kennedy Space Center, a huge bird flew straight into the top of the shuttle's external fuel tank.

On July 26, 2005, the space shuttle Discovery launches on STS-114, the first return-to-flight mission following the 2003 loss of Columbia. (Image credit: NASA)

The bird didn't cause any damage, but did lead NASA to develop precautions to prevent large birds near the shuttle during launch to avoid damage.

A few minutes later, two pieces of foam were seen flying away from the shuttle, one of which collided with the orbiter's right wing. Luckily, those didn't cause any critical damage either. STS-114 safely returned to Earth after spending two weeks in space.

On This Day in Space: See our full 365-day video archive!

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Hanneke Weitering
Hanneke Weitering
Contributing expert

Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos.