Astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery closed their ship's payload bay doors on Wednesday in preparation for landing in Florida following a successful 15-day mission to prepare the International Space Station for new laboratories.
The shuttle and its crew of seven was scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:01 pm EST (1801 GMT), NASA said. Weather at the Florida spaceport was cool, sunny and clear and expected to be perfect for landing.
The US space agency said Discovery would fly across the United States as it returned - the first time a shuttle takes this path since Columbia broke apart during its descent in February 2003.