Shuttle managers decided conditions in Florida were good enough to bring the shuttle home at 1732 (2232 GMT), after days of uncertainty about the weather.

Discovery needs to be on the ground on Saturday or it will run low on the fuel that powers its electrical systems.

The shuttle has been on a 13-day mission to rewire the International Space Station (ISS).

In addition, its crew fitted a connecting segment that will allow the platform's backbone to be extended further in future.

They also delivered two tonnes of supplies; and dropped off one new resident, American Sunita Williams, and picked up a returning astronaut, German Thomas Reiter.

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