U.S. space shuttle Discovery arrived at the International Space Station Saturday afternoon after nearly two days of flight, with its cargo of a new station module, equipment and supplies for the orbiting laboratory, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced.

The Space Shuttle Discovery is pictured with the earth in the background as it approaches the International Space Station for docking in this still image taken from NASA TV, February 26, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Discovery lifted off on Thursday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to deliver a storage room to the International Space Station, which is the final scheduled flight for the spaceship. It delivered to the station the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM), a spare closet module that will provide additional storage for the station crew and experiments may be conducted inside it, such as fluid physics, materials science, biology and biotechnology.

Discovery also carried critical spare components and the Express Logistics Carrier 4 to the station. Express is an external platform that holds large equipment that can only be transported using the unique capability of the shuttle.

The mission will feature two spacewalks to do maintenance work and install new components. Robonaut 2, or R2, has been the first human-like robot in space after flying on Discovery inside the PMM. It will also become a permanent resident of the station.

This is 39th flight for Discovery, the first of the three surviving space shuttles to be retired this year. When the U.S. space shuttle program officially ends later this year, the Russian space program's Soyuz capsule will be the only method for transporting astronauts to and from the station.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet