Washington  - The fifth and last mission to repair the ageing Hubble Space Telescope could launch a day earlier than planned, officials at the US space agency said Thursday.

The space shuttle Atlantis was to take off from its Florida launch site on May 12 and could likely take off at 2:01 pm (1801 GMT) on May 11, officials at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.

"I'm fairly confident that we can make a May 11 launch date," said LeRoy Cain, deputy manager of the Space Shuttle Programme.

Washington  - The space shuttle Discovery landed safely at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Saturday.

Commander Lee Archambault guided the shuttle to a picture-perfect landing at 1914 GMT, ending the shuttle's 13-day mission to the International Space Station.

"Welcome home after a mission to bring the ISS to full power," the NASA ground crew said, adding a special welcome to astronaut Sandra Magnus, who returned to Earth after spending 129 days living aboard the ISS.

"Thank you very much. It's good to be back home," Archambault replied.

Washing

Washington  - The space shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station Wednesday to head back to Earth after a week at the station on a milestone construction mission that has doubled the station's capacity.

The mission astronauts installed the fourth and final set of solar panels needed to double power capacity at the station so it can hold six instead of the current three long-term residents - possibly as early as May. The crew completed three spacewalks, including one to install the panels.

Washington  - Discovery astronauts were preparing to undock from the space station later Wednesday to head back to Earth after completing a milestone mission that has doubled the station's capacity.

The mission astronauts installed the fourth and final set of solar panels needed to double power capacity at the station so it can hold six instead of the current three long-term residents - possibly as early as May.

Washington  - The final solar panel at the space station began unfurling, as planned, on Friday, the final event in the years- long expansion of the energy capacity of the orbiter.

The panel, installed Thursday during a spacewalk by astronauts from the Discovery shuttle, started unfolding at 1506 GMT.

"Everything looking good so far," said a NASA official in Houston in the live webcast on NASA TV. She said the process would take some time, and be halted midway to allow the device to "warm in the sun" - necessary to avoid sticking.