The US space shuttle Discovery landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this evening, ending a successful 13-day mission to the International Space Station.
The shuttle and its seven crew members returned to Earth after spending eight days at the $100 billion orbiting outpost, where the astronauts installed a final set of solar panel wings to prepare the station for an expanded six-member crew.
NASA delayed the landing earlier today due to concerns about gusting winds and gathering clouds at its Florida landing site.
The shuttle blasted off on March 15th for a 13-day construction mission at the International Space Station.
The main goal of the flight, the first of five expected in 2009, was to deliver a fourth set of solar panel wings to the International Space Station, enabling it to house six astronauts on a full-time basis.
They will oversee science experiments in laboratories owned by the United States, Europe and Japan. Canada, which supplied the station's mobile robotic crane, also has a stake in the program.
To prepare for landing, the Discovery crew closed the 60-foot-long doors over the shuttle's now-empty cargo bay. The doors have radiator panels to dissipate heat generated by the shuttle's electrical systems, and once they are closed
While the astronauts waited for a break in the weather, the space station crew was overseeing the arrival of a new group of visitors.
Incoming station commander Gennady Padalka steered his Russian Soyuz capsule into a docking port at 13:05 pm Irish time after taking over manual control when its steering thrusters began firing in a way that would take the Soyuz away from the station, said NASA spokesman Rob Navias.
The Soyuz docked safely earlier than expected.
In addition to Padalka, who is returning for a second stint as station commander, NASA physican-turned-astronaut Michael Barratt and former Microsoft executive Charles Simonyi are aboard the capsule.
Padalka and Barratt will be swapping places with outgoing space station commander Michael Fincke and flight engineer Yury Lonchakov, who are scheduled to return to Earth along with billionaire tourist Simonyi on April 7th.
NASA's next shuttle mission is a servicing call to the Hubble Space Telescope, scheduled for liftoff on May 12th.