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| Image above: The STS-116 and Expedition 14 crews
gather for a group photo before saying their final farewells. Image
Credit: NASA TV |
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Discovery undocks ending eight-day stay at the space station
Space Shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station
at 5:10 p.m. EST Tuesday, ending an eight-day stay.
Then, Pilot Bill Oefelein guided the shuttle through a partial fly-around
of the space station before firing shuttle jets to begin the final separation
from the station and the trip back home.
The STS-116 crew bid farewell to the International Space Station’s
Expedition 14 crew before entering Space Shuttle Discovery. The hatches
closed between the two vehicles at 2:42 p.m. Then, the two crews conducted
leak checks before Discovery undocked.
Discovery is scheduled to land at 3:56 p.m. Friday at the Shuttle Landing
Facility at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
The STS-116 crew had a busy stay at the station. The crew continued the
on-orbit construction of the station with the addition of the P5 spacer
truss segment during the first of four spacewalks. The next two spacewalks
were devoted to the rewiring of the station’s power system, leaving
it in a permanent setup. A fourth spacewalk was added to allow the crew
to retract solar arrays that had folded improperly.
Discovery also delivered a new crew member and more than two tons of
equipment and supplies to the station.
Astronaut Sunita Williams, KD5PLB, who arrived at the station with the
STS-116 mission, replaced European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter,
DF4TR, on the Expedition 14 crew at midnight Tuesday, Dec. 12.
Williams will remain a member of Expedition 14 until Commander Michael
Lopez-Alegria, KE5GTK, and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, RZ3FT, are
relieved by Expedition 15 in March 2007.
Williams will finish her remaining time of her six-month tour of duty
on the station as a member of Expedition 15. Reiter will return to Earth
with STS-116.
Almost two tons of items no longer needed on the station will return
to Earth with STS-116.
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