The mother of British-born astronaut Piers Sellers yesterday said she was "full of relief" after her son landed safely in the space shuttle Discovery.

Discovery touched down at Kennedy Space Centre at 14.14 BST in only the second shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster killed seven astronauts.

Sellers' mother, Lindsay, from near Farnham, Surrey, said: "As you can imagine, I'm enormously proud, absolutely delighted."

Mrs Sellers said she was unable to watch the landing today, but listened to the NASA commentary over the internet as the shuttle landed safely despite cloudy conditions this afternoon.

"I think I was full of relief, it was a wonderful landing," she said.

Sellers, aged 51, who is married with two children, first went to space aboard Atlantis in October 2002 and holds a doctorate in biometeorology from Leeds University.

He became an American citizen and joined the NASA space programme in 1996.