HOUSTON - Seven
astronauts climbed into the space shuttle Discovery today, bidding farewell to the
International Space Station (ISS) in a tear-jerking ceremony.
The STS-120
space shuttle brought a bus-sized room, spare parts and a replacement
for space station crewmember Clay Anderson. Discovery undocks tomorrow around
5:32 a.m. EST (1032 GMT), following 12 days latched onto the orbital laboratory.
Just before
astronauts sealed hatches between Discovery and the ISS today around 3:25 p.m.
EST (2025 GMT), the two crews exchanged zero-gravity hugs and goodbyes to the music of
Collective Soul's "Reunion."
"Our
crews have matched so well," said shuttle commander Pamela Melroy, who made
history by being one of the first two female commanders in space with ISS
commander Peggy Whitson. "There's been a lot of laughter, a lot of fun and
a lot of hard work during the past few docked days. We're family now."
Whitson was
too choked up to share words, but Mission
Control here at Johnson Space Center (JSC) took some time to thank the
astronauts.
"It
was an honor and a privilege to watch you guys do your work," said Derek
Hassman, ISS lead flight director. "What an unbelievably successful
mission."
Highlighting
a risky
Saturday spacewalk to mend a torn solar wing at a far end of the space
station, lead shuttle flight director Rick LaBrode agreed that the astronauts'
mission at the orbital laboratory has been a huge success.
"The
crew and the ground teams are really on a major high," LaBrode said of yesterday's
successful repair, which had spacewalkers Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock repairing
a torn 4B solar array wing on the Port 6 truss. "It was definitely
something really special."
Emotional
crew change
LaBrode
said astronauts were busy rounding up supplies today. Just prior to closing the
hatches, however, two items were left on the list to exchange: astronauts Clay
Anderson and Dan Tani.
NASA
spokespeople said that, on the list of items to swap between Discovery and the
ISS, item number 900 was astronaut Clay Anderson, set to fly home tomorrow,
while item number 901 was astronaut Dan Tani, who will remain as a member of
the Expedition 16 space station crew.
Holding
back a flood tears that eventually came out, Anderson thanked NASA's ground teams
for their support--to which mission controllers applauded.
"You
all kept me safe, showed me unwavering patience and professionalism, and you've
all overlooked my shortcomings," Anderson said. "Thank you, you are
indeed the best and the brightest that our world has to offer."
Anderson arrived as a rookie to the space
station in June 2007, replacing record-breaking astronaut
Sunita Williams as a member of the Expedition 15 crew. The Nebraska native ventured outside
the space station on three spacewalks during his 5-month
stay at the ISS--and gave NASA plenty of laughs with on-orbit antics.
Just before
leaving his temporary home in space, Anderson read off the final members of his
list of 597 "famous towns in Nebraska." "It's never too late
finish," he said before ending list with his hometown of Ashland.
"Thanks
to all you folks," Anderson said to mission controllers today from space. "It's
my hope and my prayer that the station will get bigger and the science will get
bigger and better a lot faster than we've experienced so far."
Prior to
departing the ISS, Anderson welcomed Tani onto the space station by playing
"Danny Boy" by Bing Crosby. Crewmembers swayed in time with the
classic tune.
"Welcome
aboard, Dan-o," Anderson said to Tani, giving him a bear hug.
Tani told SPACE.com
in September that he expects to live on the space station until mid-December,
when he will switch place with French astronaut Leopold Eyharts of space shuttle
Atlantis' STS-122 crew.
"If
they hold the schedule, I come home for Christmas and that's a big bonus,"
Tani said, noting that space station crewmembers generally stay longer than
scheduled due to oft-delayed shuttle launches.
As the
newest member of the Expedition 16 crew, Tani performed a spacewalk
with Scott Parazynski just one day after arriving to add the new
Harmony module.
Orbital
expansion
The
31,500-pound (14,288-kilogram) module, also known as Node 2, added about 2,666
cubic feet (75.4 cubic meters) to the space station. As future space shuttle
missions ferry up new European and Japanese modules, the node will serve as a
vital supply-delivering hub.
The STS-122
mission will deliver the European Space Agency's (ESA) Columbus module, which
they'll use to conduct zero-gravity science experiments.
LaBrode
said Discovery hauled up 33,834 pounds (15,347 kilograms) of equipment and
supplies--including Harmony and a spare electronics box--and took 2,020 pounds (916 kilograms) of
supplies home.
"All
in all we added, to the station, 31,814 pounds," LaBrode said.
"Pretty impressive."
After
undocking tomorrow, Discovery's pilot and commander will perform a 360-degree
fly-around of the space station at about 6:01 a.m. EST (1101 GMT). The maneuver is
used to document the construction progress and safety of the space station.
'Ok' for
inspection
Later on, astronauts
will scope out the underbelly of the space shuttle with its orbital boom sensor
system, or OBSS, that was used to transport Parazynski to the torn solar wing during
Saturday's spacewalk.
Mission managers feared that the extension
boom's more than nine hours of unheated use in the brutal cold of space might
damage electronics. LaBrode said the OBSS experienced errors in one of four sensor
packages, but could not say if the boom's abnormal use caused the glitch.
"This
is a symptom they've seen before," LaBrode said of NASA engineers'
experience with the problem. "All of the sensors that are required for tomorrow's
late inspection are fully operational."
Just after
closing the hatches between Discovery and the ISS, Anderson noted a ding in
one of the shuttle's thick windows caused by a
micrometeorite. Mission controllers told Anderson to send down images of
the strike area.
NASA
expects the wayward space shuttle crew to touch down at Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, Nov. 7, giving the crew 16 days in the zero-gravity environment of
space. It will be the 34th complete mission for Discovery.
SPACE.com staff
writer Tariq
Malik contributed to this story.
advertisement
