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In this view from NASA TV, the space
shuttle Atlantis is seen from a window of the International Space Station
as it performs a 360-degree fly-around of the orbiting laboratory after
undocking September 17, 2006. The black strips at the top and bottom of
the image are due to the 16:9 aspect ratio of the hand-held high
definition video cameras used to record the event from on board the
station.Photo Gallery
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WASHINGTON,
Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the
International Space Station (ISS) at 8:50 a.m. EDT (1250 GMT)Sunday after
astronauts had finished the installation of new solar panels to the orbiting
outpost, NASA TV reported.
After a busy week of challenging construction work,
the Atlantis crew bid farewell to its host -- the station crew -- and left the
space station.
The hatches between the station and shuttle Atlantis
closed at 6:27 a.m. EDT (1027 GMT).
The two crews conducted leak checks before Atlantis
undocked slowly from ISS and began its nearly three-day-journey home.
Following the undocking, Pilot Chris Ferguson will do
a 360-degree fly-around of the station to allow his crewmates to collect imagery
of the newly-expanded station.
The fly-around, which will reveal the station's new
configuration in full view, will last for more than an hour.
Atlantis' STS-115 mission is the first of a series of
the shuttle missions that will perform on-orbit construction of the station.
Atlantis delivered the new integrated truss to the
station, and its crew used the shuttle and station robotic arms to attach the
truss to the orbital outpost and then conducted three arduous spacewalks in four
days to prepare the truss and its solar arrays for operation.
The truss' 240-foot (73 meters) solar arrays will
eventually double the station's power capabilities, setting the stage for future
expansion.
The STS-115 and Expedition 13 crew held the
traditional joint crew news conference earlier Saturday. STS-115 Commander Brent
Jett said this mission is a good start for the series of upcoming construction
flights.
"All of the rest of the assembly missions are going
to be challenging," Jett said. "We have similar payloads flying in the future."
"We are off to a good start on assembly. I think we
can pass along a lot of the lessons to the future crews," he added.
Atlantis is scheduled to touch down at 5:57 a.m. EDT
(0957 GMT)Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Enditem
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Two Atlantis astronauts
successfully completed the mission's third and final spacewalk.
(Xinhua/AFP Photo)Photo Gallery
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WASHINGTON, Sept. 15
(Xinhua) -- Two Atlantis astronauts successfully completed the mission's third
and final spacewalk Friday morning, according to a report from NASA's mission
control center.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Two
astronauts finished on Wednesday morning the second spacewalk of a shuttle
mission critical to completion of the half-finished orbital outpost.
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Astronaut Joe Tanner works to make the
P3/P4 truss operational during his extravehicular excursion from the
International Space Station in this view from NASA TV, September 12,
2006.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)Photo Gallery
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WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Atlantis mission specialists Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper smoothly finished the first of three spacewalks Tuesday morning, preparing the new truss for operation, according to NASA TV. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
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