Backgrounder: Space shuttle Atlantis
Special Report: NASA Space Shuttles Retirement
WASHINGTON, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Atlantis, which is on the final U.S. shuttle mission, undocked from the International Space Station early Tuesday.
The separation occurred as scheduled at 0628 GMT about 350 km above the Pacific Ocean.
Atlantis would fly around the space station and take photos of it, before leaving the laboratory behind.
Atlantis lifted off on Friday morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on the 135th and final flight in NASA's shuttle program.
Its return to the earth later this month will mark the end of the 30-year U.S. shuttle program.
Related:
Atlantis opens next chapter, says NASA
BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhuanet) -- The Atlantis mission to be launched by NASA on July 8 will not be an end to the space age, as some media suggest.
Although it is the final mission of the space shuttle, it will open up "the next chapter" in the United States' space exploration, NASA's administrator Charles Bolden Jr said at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday. Full story
