Discovery lands after final voyage

The space shuttle Discovery has landed in Florida after a final mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The spaceship delivered a combination storage room-research lab to the ISS, as well as an external platform to house large spare parts.

It ends a 27-year flying career for Nasa's most-travelled spaceship. It will now be prepared for display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Sister ships Endeavour and Atlantis will make their final journeys to space in April and June respectively.

Nasa is preparing for an uncertain future as the US ends a 30-year-old shuttle programme due to high operating costs.

America wants to free up funds to begin work on new spaceships that can travel to the moon, asteroids and other destinations beyond the station's orbit.

Congress, however, has not yet allocated funds to start new programmes.