In the novels of Arthur C. Clarke, the American spacecraft used in the historic first manned mission to Jupiter in 2001. Physically, Discovery was a long, slender white spear shape, with a spherical pressure hull at the forward end, a large ion drive module at the aft end, and a large antenna complex atop the ship, near its midpoint. The pressure hull contained the ship's flight deck, a pod bay with three space pods (indended for EVA use), a small emergency airlock, and a large centrifuge to provide artificial gravity, in which were located the crew quarters, galley, and the ship's hibernation facilities. The vessel was assembled in Earth orbit, tested in a translunar flight, and launched on its mission from lunar orbit.

The crew of the Discovery consisted of Mission Commander David Bowman, Astronaut Frank Poole, and a three-member exploration team kept in suspended animation. Acting almost as a "sixth member" of the crew was the ship's artificially intelligent onboard computer, HAL 9000, which handled the ship's automated functions and could, in an emergency, run the entire mission unaided.

The planned mission would have had Bowman and Poole fly the Discovery to Jupiter, where the exploration team would be awakened and spend several months in observations of Jupiter and its moons. Thereafter, the entire crew would enter hibernation, to await rescue five years later by the planned spacecraft Discovery II. For various reasons, mostly centering around the discovery of the TMA-1 monolith in Tycho Crater on the Moon, the mission objectives were changed prior to launch; the three exploration team members were briefed on the new objectives, but placed in suspended animation before the Discovery's departure. Bowman and Poole were kept unaware of the mission's changes; HAL was given information about the true mission objectives, but was instructed to conceal this information from the flight crew. This decision would later prove disastrous.

During the mission, HAL reported a failure in a portion of the antenna control system, threatening to break communications with Earth. Poole, in the process of attempting to diagnose and repair the failure, was killed by HAL during an EVA. Bowman left the ship to attempt to rescue Poole, but was denied access to the ship by HAL upon his return. Meanwhile, HAL had sabotaged the hibernation systems, causing the death of the three other crew members. Bowman managed to reenter the ship, and he subsequently disconnected HAL's higher functions, rendering the computer harmless.

Upon arrival at Jupiter, Bowman discovered a larger monolith, at the Lagrange point between Jupiter and Io. Leaving the ship in orbit around Io, he took a space pod to investigate the monolith, but did not return and was presumed dead. Discovery continued to orbit Io, though her orbit gradually decayed due to electromagnetic influence from the flux tube between Jupiter and Io.

Discovery was eventually reactivated by the crew of the Russian spacecraft Leonov, which embarked on an expedition to Jupiter in 2010. Three crew members of the Leonov were Americans, sent on the mission expressly for the purpose of reactivating Discovery and especially HAL. A mysterious warning from Bowman, given to Dr. Heywood Floyd, would result in the use of Discovery and her remaining fuel supply as a "first stage" to propel Leonov homeward prior to the opening of the launch window for return to Earth. This allowed Leonov to escape the cataclysmic explosion, caused by the monolith, that turned Jupiter into the star Lucifer. Discovery was destroyed in that explosion, but the Leonov crew, as well as mission controllers on Earth, received one final message from the spacecraft before its destruction: "All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landings there."

Source: Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: a space odyssey, 2010: odyssey two; movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010