Discovery Shuttle undocks from station & heads home

Seven astronauts aboard the U.S. shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station on Tuesday and set their sights on a Thursday landing in Florida.

Shuttle pilot Kevin Ford backed the craft away from the station as it orbited 223 miles above western China, near the Mongolian border.

Later, Ford backflipped the shuttle around the station so astronauts aboard the outpost could take pictures of Discovery's heat shield.

Discovery's crew will spend the rest of the day on inspections that are part of post-Columbia safety procedures to assure the shuttle was not damaged by debris during its climb to orbit.

So far, NASA has found no damage that would keep Discovery from its scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 10 at 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT).