SPACE CENTER. June 5: Discovery's astronauts packed up the space shuttle Saturday for their return trip home and completed one last task: the release of mirrored satellite to be tracked by students around the world, reports AP.

The shuttle is due back at Florida’s Kannedy Space Center early Sunday. It would be only the 11th time in 94 flights that a space shuttle has returned in darkness.

On Saturday morning. the seven astronauts stowed gear and inspected Discovery's systems to ensure everything was in working order for landing.

Canadian astronaut Julie Payette then ejected the Starshine satellite from the shuttle cargo bay. The 19-inch (48-centimeter) sphere, covered with 878 circular mirrors that were polished by schoolchildren. sparkled like a disco ball as it shot out of Discovery.

"The first thing we all saw

was the flickering of the m>'' rors.” Payette said. "It’s was glittering, and then the ball fust went off. It's beautiful."

. . Thousands of students from 18 countries will track' Starshine over a six-month period. measuring the time it takes to orbit the Earth. By year’s end it will plunge through the atmosphere and bum up.

The satellite deployment capped a busy 10-day mission.

Discovery and its crew blasted into orbit May 27 and two days later became the first shuttle to dock with the international space station. That night, astronauts Tamara Jernighan and Daniel Barry conducted an eight-hour spacewalk to attach tool bags and cranes to the outside of the outpost.

The crew ventured inside the station the next day to begin unloading 2 tons of supplies for future residents, ranging from water and clothes to laptop computers.