Endeavour undocks from space station

Image above: Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi uses a still camera at a window in the cupola of the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA

The joint docked mission between the crews of the International Space Station and space shuttle Endeavour came to an end Friday when the shuttle undocked from the station at 7:54 p.m. EST to begin the voyage back to Earth and a Sunday night landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Expedition 22 and STS-130 crews bid one another farewell, and the hatches between the two spacecraft closed at 3:08 a.m. Friday.

View STS-130 farewell ceremony video

Earlier, the combined crews commemorated the installation of the last components of the U.S. segment of the station with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Tranquility and the cupola at 11:39 p.m. Thursday.

Listen to the ribbon-cutting ceremony (3.3 Mb MP3)

The STS-130 mission included three spacewalks and the delivery of a connecting module that increased the station’s interior space. Node 3, known as Tranquility, provides additional room for crew members and many of the station's life support and environmental control systems. Attached to the node is a cupola, which is a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center that provides a panoramic view of Earth, celestial objects and visiting spacecraft.