Discovery crew checks shuttle before landing

They fired steering jets, checked out flight controls and remotely jiggled the spacecraft's rudder in an inspection before a planned landing Monday in Florida that will have Nasa holding its breath.

Discovery passed Sunday's tests with flying colours.

"The crew has completed checks of flight controls and steering jets done as pre-landing checks -- all of that going very well, very smoothly, all on track for landing," Nasa flight commentator James Hartsfield said.

Shuttle commander Eileen Collins, pilot Jim Kelly and flight engineer Steve Robinson hooked a laptop to Discovery's control sticks and practised landing with a flight simulator software.