After three decades of space service, Discovery, NASA’s oldest and most travelled shuttle began its new life as a museum relic today with one final takeoff.

Nasa said today it had delayed the launch of space shuttle Discovery while it runs tests to determine whether newly-installed valves would cause serious damage if they broke during lift-off.

After orbiting the Earth for nearly two weeks, astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery were told to circle the planet for another day as bad weather in Florida forced Nasa to delay today’s scheduled landing.

After orbiting the Earth for 13 days, astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery have been told to circle the planet once more early today as Nasa delayed their landing because of bad weather in Florida.

The final moments on board space shuttle Columbia were revealed today as Nasa published transcripts of its last radio contacts with mission control.