'Skinless' Shuttle Also Soon to Retire

The shuttle names Columbia, Atlantis and Discovery may ring a bell. But ever hear of OV-95? Few have and now it, too, will be retired.

(By Irene Klotz, Discovery News) - Unlike famous sibling spaceships -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour -- the little-known space shuttle inside Building 16 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston never got a name.

It's known only by the manufacturer's designation Orbiter Vehicle 95, or OV-95, though it has "flown" all 135 space shuttle missions -- at least 15 times apiece -- plus dozens of precursor test flights by the prototype shuttle Enterprise.

The full-size orbiter is no mockup. It's an exact replica, electronically speaking, tasked to make sure the software and 230 miles of wiring needed to fly the shuttles are error-free.