Shuttle Crew Completes Stay At Station

ANN REALTIME REPORTING 06.19.07 1345 EDT: It's been fun... really... but we have to be going now. Tuesday morning, the space shuttle Atlantis wrapped up an almost nine-day, drama-filled stay at the International Space Station when it undocked from the orbital outpost, in preparation for the return trip to Earth.

NASA reports the two spacecraft parted ways at 1042 EDT, as they flew over the Coral Sea northeast of Australia. After Pilot Lee Archambault backed the orbiter 450 feet from the station, he performed a full fly-around to allow crew members to collect video and imagery of the station and its newly expanded solar wings. He completed the final separation engine burn at 1228.

Later in the day, Archambault and Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson will use the shuttle robot arm and the 50-foot long Orbiter Boom Sensor System to conduct a late inspection of the thermal protection system.

The crew will spend Wednesday preparing for landing. Atlantis' first landing opportunity is at 1354 EDT Thursday at Florida's Kennedy Space Center -- bringing an end to what had been a problematic visit to the ISS.

While the crew was able to successfully continue the on-orbit construction of the station, with the installation of the Starboard 3 and 4 (S3/S4) truss segment, the mission will likely be remembered most for the series of problems experienced during the shuttle's stay at the station.

As ANN reported, a number of Russian computers failed onboard the station last week, shortly after spacewalkers connected power from a new solar array. Those computers control the station's orientation in orbit, as well as oxygen production onboard the ISS.

After some tense moments -- including talk of the possibility of abandoning the station -- Russian engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov were able to restore functionality Friday, after the problem was traced to a faulty secondary power switch.

Atlantis was originally scheduled to return Tuesday, but NASA extended the shuttle's mission by two days to provide an additional margin of safety for the ISS crew during the computer snafu. The extra time also allowed a fourth spacewalk to the mission, so astronauts could repair a torn thermal blanket atop the orbiter's port orbital maneuvering pod.

STS-117 also delivered a new station crew member, Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson. He replaced astronaut Suni Williams, who is the new record holder for a long-duration single spaceflight for a woman. She arrived at the station in December with STS-116, and is riding back from orbit onboard Atlantis.

FMI: www.nasa.gov