Cape Canaveral, Fla. ? Shuttle Discovery exited the international space station Saturday en route to a planned homecoming Monday at the Kennedy Space Center.

With Navy Cmdr. Mark Kelly piloting Discovery, the shuttle and its crew of six undocked from the station at 6:08 a.m. as the spacecraft flew 210 miles above the Pacific Ocean north of New Zealand. Kelly slowly eased the shuttle away before firing steering jets to separate the ships.

“Have a safe journey back, soft landings, and we’ll see you on the ground in a few months,” station astronaut Jeff Williams radioed as Discovery undocked.

“Thanks, Jeff,” shuttle commander Steve Lindsey replied. “We enjoyed it tremendously.”

During Discovery’s nine-day visit, the shuttle dropped off a third resident for the station, German astronaut Thomas Reiter, along with more than three tons of equipment and supplies. The crew also performed three spacewalks, including one that restored mobility to a robot arm on the station critical to continuing the outpost’s construction.

After Saturday’s undocking, Discovery’s astronauts used a sensor-equipped boom at the end of the shuttle’s 50-foot robot arm to inspect the nose of the orbiter and the right wing’s leading edge for damage from orbital debris or micrometeoroids. A survey of the left wing was completed Friday.

Engineers are studying the results and this morning plan to clear Discovery’s heat shield for the flight home if, as expected, no damage is detected.

“The team is working through all of that data,” said John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team for Discovery’s flight. “Right now, they don’t see anything of concern at all.”