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Discovery, Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1988

On the morning of September 29, 1988, space shuttle Discovery stands on its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center. Redesigned after Challenger's fatal 1986 explosion, Discovery's primary objective was to launch a communications satellite. Perhaps more importantly, Discovery also relaunched the U.S. space program after a two-and-a-half-year moratorium on space travel.

(Photograph shot on assignment for National Geographic magazine)

Photograph by Otis Imboden