Discovery ended its 14 day mission to the International Space Station, as it successfully touched down in Florida today at 11:15 am, EDT. Discovery’s mission was the 123rd flight of the shuttle program, which will close in 2010 after the construction of the ISS will be finished.

The crew’s mission was to deliver Japan’s contribution to the International Space Station, the Kibo lab. This will be ISS’s largest module and is formed by three parts. Two of them, the storage room and the lab itself are now installed, and the third part, a porch for carrying out scientific experiments outside the space station is scheduled to be delivered soon.

The spacewalkers of this mission, astronauts Michael Fossum and Ronald Garran, had to go outside of the space station three times in order to install the Japanese lab, retrieve a sensor boom for the shuttle and try different techniques for cleaning the rotary joints that keep the station’s solar panels facing towards the sun.

Based on the rotary joints’ examination by the two spacewalkers, NASA said that it will schedule a flight in November to repair the massive gear that has consumed more energy than normal since October last year.

Discovery also delivered a pump that was needed to repair the toilet on the ISS, which had been malfunctioning for about two weeks before the shuttle’s flight.

"It was a really exciting mission and we're glad to be back here in Florida," Commander Mark Kelly said soon after Discovery landed.

Yesterday a metal object was seen floating away from the spacecraft, but Discovery’s team received the approval from NASA to go through with the landing. Later it was proved that the object was a clip attached to the rudder, meant to ensure protection against overheating during ascent. As it does nothing during the ride back, its loss does not affect the crew’s security.

Astronaut Garrett Reisman, who was returning after three months on the International Space Station, also joined the crew on the SLF. The astronauts will ride to the Astronaut Crew Quarters at Kennedy shortly to see family and others.