Pass, STS-26, RTF Discovery, Rollout to Launch Pad

This vehicle permit pass, with an emblem of a Space Shuttle orbiter stack, was used during the rollout of the space shuttle Discovery. It belonged to Dennis Jenkins, a consulting aerospace engineer for the Space Shuttle Program, and author of Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System, a definitive book detailing the development and first 100 flights of the space shuttles.

Over the course of the 135 Space Shuttle Program missions, thousands of workers were employed in maintenance of the space shuttle orbiters. Vehicle permit passes such as this one allowed these employees, and the public, to witness the rollout of the space shuttle prior to its launch, in this particular case the 7th launch of the space shuttle Discovery in September 1988.

Designed as a reusable spacecraft capable of flights to low Earth orbit, space shuttle orbiters carried astronauts to conduct scientific experiments, launch and repair satellites, and construct the International Space Station.

This vehicle permit pass was donated to the National Air and Space Museum by Dennis Jenkins in September 2011.