Discovery glides back to earth

SPACE shuttle Discovery and its crew of six returned to Earth through overcast skies yesterday, ending a successful US mission that put Nasa back in the space station construction business.

Discovery glided down onto the Kennedy Space Centre runway at Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 2.14pm Irish time, allowing Nasa to declare total victory for the first time since before the 2003 Columbia disaster.

It was so cloudy, shuttle commander Steven Lindsey could not spot the runway until just before landing.