Atlantis Shuttle Crew Undocks from Space Station

Space.Com ^ | 19 June 2007 | Tariq Malik

[Hal1950]

HOUSTON -- Seven astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle Atlantis cast off from the International Space Station (ISS) Tuesday, leaving the orbital laboratory with a more balanced look after installing new starboard solar wings.

"We'll see you back on planet Earth," Atlantis commander Rick Sturckow told the space station's Expedition 15 crew as the shuttle departed.

Atlantis undocked from the space station at 10:42 a.m. EDT (1442 GMT) as both spacecraft passed 213 miles (342 kilometers) above the Coral Sea off the coast of Australia.

Sturckow and his STS-117 crew arrived at the ISS on June 10 and performed four spacewalks to install a new pair of 17.5-ton trusses and unfurl two new solar arrays to the station's starboard side. The astronauts also stowed an older solar wing atop the station, stapled down a torn shuttle thermal blanket and assisted the Expedition 15 crew to revive vital Russian ISS computer systems after they failed last week.

During the shuttle mission, a new ISS crewmember relieved NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who passed the 191-day mark in space Tuesday and is setting a new record for the longest spaceflight by a female astronaut. She joined the space station crew in December 2006 and relinquished her Expedition 15 flight engineer post to fellow NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson.

"Godspeed Atlantis," Anderson said as the shuttle pulled away from the ISS. "Thank you for everything."

The STS-117 crew is slated to land at 1:54 p.m. EDT (1754 GMT) Thursday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, but carries enough supplies for landing attempts on Friday and Saturday if weather intervenes, the space agency said.

[mnehring]

Godspeed and prayers to them as they begin their return.

[spald]

Here's a pretty nice NASA link to the STS-115 mission

[RightWhale]

An amazing mission! Everything from the ISS being close to total failure to triumph over those German-Russian computers. Is the issue of the duct tape resolved to everyone’s satisfaction?

[cabojoe]

(17 June 2007) --- Astronauts Patrick Forrester (left) and Steven Swanson, both STS-117 mission specialists, participate in the mission's fourth and final session of extravehicular activity (EVA), as construction continues on the International Space Station. Among other tasks, Forrester and Swanson continued activation of the station's new starboard 3 and 4 (S3/S4) truss segment; checked out the Drive Lock Assembly 2, one of two mechanisms that will drive rotation of the S3/S4 Truss Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ); and removed the final launch restraints on the SARJ.

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