The U.S. space shuttle Discovery landed at its homeport on Saturday, wrapping up a mission that gave Japan a permanent toehold in space and setting NASA up for its next mission -- a high-profile servicing call to the Hubble Space Telescope. Shuttle commander Mark Kelly steered the spacecraft through pockets of thin clouds as it slowed from a top speed of 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 km per hour) in orbit to under the speed of sound just short of the runway at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery touched down at 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 GMT) on a canal-lined landing strip to complete NASA's 123rd shuttle mission. Just 10 flights, including one in October to the Hubble telescope, remain before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. Discovery returns with its cargo hold nearly empty after delivering the main section of Japan's elaborate Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station. --MORE
