Although a metal object was seen floating away from the spacecraft, Discovery’s team received the approval from NASA to go through with the landing scheduled for today.

It seems the object was a clip attached to the rudder, meant to ensure protection against overheating during ascent. As it does nothing during the ride back, its loss does not affect the crew’s security.

"There's no worry at all. Discovery is in great shape," Mark Kelly, shuttle commander, confidently said Friday.

If something very serious would have happened, the shuttle would have taken back to the International Space Station (ISS), where the crew would have waited for instructions from the mission managers. Two landing opportunities are available for space shuttle Discovery and the STS-124 crew to return to Earth today.

Discovery's first landing opportunity is at 11:15 a.m. EDT on orbit 217. If controllers elect to take it, Commander Mark Kelly will perform the deorbit burn at 10:10 a.m. to begin the descent to Kennedy. Orbit 218 provides a second opportunity at 12:50 p.m.

Forecasters predict good weather at the landing site.

During their mission, the astronauts have delivered and installed the Kibo pressurized science laboratory, also known as the JPM. Another one of the shuttle’s tasks was to bring astronaut Gregory Chamitoff to the space station. He replaced his colleague Garrett Reisman, after a three-month stay.  Chamitoff will oversee the operations on the space station for a period of six months.

The first component of the lab was installed during space shuttle Endeavour’s 16-day mission that ended in March. The final component is planned to be delivered to the ISS next year. The laboratory’s costs total more than $2 billion.

The June project brings to an end NASA’s 35th mission, its 26th shuttle flight to the space station and the 123rd flight in shuttle program history.