Discovery shuttle docks with space station

The space shuttle Discovery glided to a picture-perfect docking with the International Space Station on Saturday, as the veteran spacecraft made its 13th and final link-up with the orbiting outpost.

The space shuttle Discovery, captured here by a crew member on board the International Space Station, has docked with the orbital outpost for the 13th time. Photo credit: Nasa

With commander Steven Lindsey manually flying Discovery from the aft flight deck, the shuttle's payload bay docking system engaged its counterpart on the front end of the station's Harmony module at 2:14pm EST (7:14pm GMT). "Station and Houston, Discovery has capture confirmed," an astronaut radioed.

The historic link-up marked the first time in the International Space Station's 12-year history that spacecraft from the US, Russia, the European Space Agency and Japan were docked at the outpost at the same time.

For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Shuttle Discovery docks with the International Space Station (UPDATED) on CBS News.