CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) – Astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery conducted a final inspection of the vehicle Thursday and at first glance found no significant damage which would prevent it from returning to Earth.

Mission managers will decide whether it’s safe for Discovery to land Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida once engineers finish studying the results of the five-hour, routine survey. They said Thursday afternoon they hadn’t detected any areas of concern so far.

Astronauts combed the outside of the shuttle with a 50-foot inspection boom mounted on Discovery’s robotic arm. The boom was equipped with laser and camera tools that beamed images and data back to Mission Control.

“To the untrained eye, it looked very, very clean,” said Paul Dye, lead flight director.

Astronauts were looking for damage from micrometeorites or space debris that may have hit the shuttle as it was docked to the international space station for eight days. The results were being compared with those taken during an inspection on the mission’s second day.

The procedure was put in place after the 2003 Columbia disaster killed seven astronauts. A piece of foam from Columbia’s external tank damaged the shuttle’s wing during launch, allowing fiery gases to penetrate the orbiter during its descent back to Earth.

Discovery undocked from the space station on Wednesday after its seven-person crew delivered and installed power-generating solar wings at the orbiting outpost. Discovery was orbiting Earth for two days before it was to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday.