The space shuttle that flew to the highest orbital altitude in the program was Discovery, during STS-31. The mission launched on April 24, 1990, to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope.
To place Hubble in a useful orbit above much of Earth’s atmospheric drag, Discovery climbed far higher than on typical shuttle missions. Its orbit reached an apogee of about 615 kilometers, the highest altitude ever reached by a shuttle orbiter. The mission’s higher trajectory also allowed the crew to photograph large-scale features on Earth that are difficult to see from lower orbits.
STS-31’s primary task was deploying Hubble, but the telescope initially suffered a serious problem: one solar array failed to unfurl properly. Controllers eventually freed it, allowing the observatory to generate power. Hubble later required corrective optics after a flaw in its primary mirror was discovered.
Discovery’s high-altitude flight also made reentry more demanding. The mission required a deorbit burn lasting 4 minutes and 58 seconds, unusually long for the shuttle. This record concerns orbital altitude, not the highest point reached during launch or the highest altitude of any spacecraft launched by a shuttle.