NASA’s space shuttle Discovery has returned to Earth after a 14-day mission to the International Space Station.

The US Space Agency’s space shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven astronauts have returned safely to Earth at the Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Discovery completed its 14-day mission of more than 5.7 million miles on Friday (11 September).

The space shuttle was due to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida but plans had to be postponed after bad weather. Two further attempts also had to be cancelled because of the inclement weather and then the decision was made to land in California.

NASA tries to avoid landing in California as it takes up to a week to transport the space shuttle back to Florida and costs $1.7 million (£1.03m).

The Discovery STS-128 mission delivered science racks to the International Space Station (ISS), which will be used to conduct various experiments on fluids and metals.

Three spacewalks were also conducted during the mission to perform some exterior work on an exhausted ammonia tank.

American astronaut Tim Kopra returned home on the Discovery after a ninety-day stay on the ISS. He has been replaced by Nicole Stott who will remain on the space station for almost three months.

NASA is planning six further shuttle flights to the ISS before retiring the fleet in the next two years.

The US space agency is currently in the process of readying its next orbiter Atlantis for its mission to the ISS in November.