Discovery all clear to return back to earth

Discovery all clear to return back to earth

NASA has finally given its full approval for Discovery to attempt a landing on Monday. The final decision was taken after inspection showed no signs of damage to the space shuttle surface.

The engineers on board check out the images of the orbiter’s wings and nose cap and decided that it is in good shape for the journey back home.

The discovery space shuttle has six astronauts on board as they have left behind German astronaut Thomas Reiter for a six-month stay on the international space station.

Discovery moved away from the ISS on Saturday and was kept just 74km from the platform to let the engineers checkout the surface of the shuttle. If they had found any serious problems, Discovery would have been returned to the ISS for further repair jobs.

NASA has confirmed that the Discovery is now expected to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 0914 EDT on Monday.