First space station crew to return on shuttle

The space shuttle Discovery is preparing to return to Earth with the three-man crew of the international space station.

Bill Shepherd, who captained the Alpha mission for just over four months, has urged his successors to "sail her well".

He and his crewmates, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, have helped transform Alpha from a three-room orbiter into a four-room research station.

Shepherd said: "We are a true spaceship now. We are not the first crew to board or the last to depart. But we have made Alpha come alive."

Yuri Usachev is now in command of the space station and has with him astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helms. Discovery is due to land at the Kennedy Space Centre on Wednesday.