Space Shuttle Discovery returned safely to Florida after a really important mission for NASA’s astronaut corp, and the Space Station.

After three space walks, transferring thousands of pounds of supplies, and removing trash, the astronauts “installed new equipment outside of the station, tested technologies and techniques for repairing small areas of damage to the shuttle’s thermal protection system in orbit, and performed an experiment to see if an extension of the shuttle’s robot arm can be used as a work platform without too much sway or wobble.”

NASA will be busy over the next few years as it plans to make at least 16 flights of the shuttle to the Space Station. This mission hopefully will get them started on that path.