NASA scrubbed space shuttle Discovery’s first landing plan tonight because of rain at Kennedy Space Center and was considering ordering a New Mexico landing - something it has done only once before.

Nasa managers cleared Discovery to return home today, planning for a possible touchdown in New Mexico for only the second time in space shuttle history because of bad weather on both coasts.

Nasa managers may have to decide between three imperfect choices as they try to select a landing site for the shuttle Discovery.

DISCOVERY and its crew of seven glided safely back to Earth yesterday, ending a riveting, at times agonising, 14-day test of space shuttle safety that was shadowed by the ghosts of Columbia.

From the Johnson Space Centre in Texas to Capitol Hill in Washington DC, the relief was obvious when space shuttle Discovery safely returned to terra firma.

The space shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven have touched down safely at Edwards air base in California's Mojave Desert.

Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery were ready to put on the brakes today and begin descending from orbit with hopes of having their feet back on the ground before daybreak.

Forced to avoid rainy Florida, space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-man crew landed in California today after installing a billion-dollar robot arm on the international space station.

Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew landed in the Mojave Desert last night after three days of bad weather prevented the ship from returning to its Florida home port.