The space shuttle Discovery made a rare night landing at the Kennedy Space Centre early on Thursday. The night landing, the 11th in the Centre's 94 shuttle missions,endded a 10-day mission to outfit the orbiting International Space Station. Although the spacecraft created a sonic boom that could be heard along much of Florida's eastern seaboard, witness on the ground could not see the orbiter until it was directly over the runway lights. Scattered showers off the Florida coast had threatened to postpone the shuttle's return, but forecasters gave the green light when they decided no rain would fall within 48 kilometres of the space centre.