Discovery lands safely after installing Japanese lab

FLORIDA: The US shuttle Discovery touched down in Florida Saturday, capping a successful 14-day mission to deliver and open Japan's first space laboratory at the International Space Station.

Under a sunny sky, the orbiter carrying seven astronauts landed right on time at 11:15 am (1515 GMT) at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral after gliding over Mexico's Yucatan peninsula as it plunged toward Earth.

"Beautiful landing, Mark, and congratulations on a great mission," a mission control official told Discovery commander Mark Kelly.

"It's great to be back, and it's great for all of us to be part of a big team that made the station a little bit bigger, a little bit more capable," Kelly replied.

After traveling 217 orbits and 9.2 million kilometers (5.7 million miles) around Earth, Discovery plunged toward the planet at more than 20 times the speed of sound before slowing down for its landing.

A double sonic boom signaled the shuttle's imminent arrival. Three minutes before landing, Kelly took the shuttle off auto-pilot and steered it toward Kennedy's landing strip number 15.

Cape Canaveral, Sunday, AFP