Shuttle lands safely in California

Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts landed safely in California today, ending a successful 13-day mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope.

Thunderstorms prevented the shuttle from returning to its Florida home base for the third day in a row. Commander Scott Altman was grateful for the beautiful desert weather.

The astronauts left behind a refurbished Hubble that scientists say is better than ever.

Researchers expect it to churn out pictures of the universe for another five to 10 years.

It will take about a week to get Atlantis back to Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, and cost NASA close to $2m (€1.43m). The previous Edwards shuttle landing was in November.