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Discovery undocks from International Space Station

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Space Shuttle Discovery and the seven crewmembers bade farewell to the International Space Station's Expedition 14 crew at 5:10 p.m. EST (2210 GMT) Tuesday and began the journey back to Earth, according to NASA TV.

    The hatches between the station and shuttle Discovery closed at 2:42 p.m. EST (1942 GMT). "We are going to say a farewell to the Discovery crew," ISS commander Michael Lopez-Alegria said as the hatch was shut. "I think all of us will declare this mission successful." Full Story

Basic facts of International Space Station

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- The launch of NASA's space shuttle Atlantis and its six-member crew on the STS-115 mission on Saturday marked the return to assembly of the International Space Station (ISS).

    The International Space Station is a joint project of 16 nations including the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil and 11 countries from the European Space Agency.

    The station's first segment, the Zarya control module, was brought to orbit by a Russian Proton rocket in November 1998 to provide the infant station's battery power and fuel storage. The station is located in orbit around the Earth at an altitude of approximately 360 km, a type of orbit usually termed as low Earth orbit. Full Story