The space shuttle Discovery lands at the Kennedy Space Center on 17 July 2006. Image: NASA On 17 July 2006 the shuttle Discovery landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center after 13 days in space. At 1307 GMT astronauts on board fired the engines to de-orbit the spacecraft and Discovery landed a little over an hour later.

Unlike the previous ‘return to flight’ test in July 2005, NASA engineers were much more confident about the state of the vehicle and reported only very minor damage to the heatshield that protects it during re-entry. It now seems likely that further flights of both Discovery and the sister shuttle Atlantis will be approved.

As well as being a matter of American national pride, the Shuttle programme is crucial for the construction of the International Space Station (ISS). The $100 billion project needs to be completed with the use of the shuttles Discovery and Atlantis, as only these vehicles are large enough to carry the remaining ISS modules into orbit.

The next milestone in the Shuttle programme is the launch of Atlantis in late August, when the next components of the space station will be carried to orbit. The ISS construction will need a further 16 flights of both spacecraft until the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.