Shuttle Endeavour Undocks from Space Station

HOUSTON -- The space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-astronaut crew undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) early Sunday as NASA kept a close watch on Hurricane Dean.

NASA shuttle managers ordered Endeavour's STS-118 astronauts to cast off from the space station one day early due to concerns that the hurricane could prompt an evacuation of Mission Control here at the Johnson Space Center.

Endeavour left its space station berth at 7:56 a.m. EDT (1156 GMT) and is en route for a Tuesday landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

"It was really a pleasure working with you guys," shuttle commander Scott Kelly told the station's Expedition 15 crew as Endeavour pulled away. "We'll see you again on the ground."

"Have a good trip to Earth," Expedition 15 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin told the shuttle astronauts. "Say hello at home to everyone for us."

Kelly and his STS-118 crewmates launched towards the ISS on Aug. 8 and spent about nine days at the orbital laboratory delivering cargo, spare parts and a new starboard-side piece of the station's backbone-like main truss.

The shuttle crew includes teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, who first joined NASA as its backup to Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe before the ill-fated 1986 Challenger mission. She became a career NASA spaceflyer and educator astronaut in 1998.

"What we have up here is a fabulous vehicle," Morgan told reporters of the ISS during her flight. A planned video link between Morgan and schoolchildren in Massachusetts was canceled Sunday due to Endeavour's early undocking, NASA said.

As of early Sunday, Hurricane Dean was moving across the Caribbean Sea near Jamaica as it made its way towards the Gulf of Mexico. The category four storm had maximum winds speeds of 145 miles per hour (230 kph) and was trending towards the southern Gulf Coast.

Mission managers are now discussing whether to evacuate Mission Control here at JSC and set up a backup operations center at KSC for Endeavour's landing, though it appeared unlikely the measure would be required, NASA said.

"It would have been irresponsible for us not to pay attention to this storm," LeRoy Cain, NASA's mission management chair, told reporters Saturday. "It's a big storm, and it's a serious storm."

Inspections, time off ahead

With their construction mission complete, Endeavour's STS-118 astronauts are now turning their attention towards their planned Tuesday landing. Touchdown is slated for 12:32 p.m. EDT (1632 GMT) at KSC, with a second opportunity about 30 minutes later.

But first the astronauts will conduct one final scan of their orbiter's heat shield in a now-standard late inspection. The survey is expected to begin at about 10:16 a.m. EDT (1416 GMT) and run more than five hours to inspect Endeavour's wing edges and nose cap for any damage from micrometeorites or orbital debris.

A similar scan with Endeavour's sensor-laden inspection boom just after launch cleared the orbiter of any major concerns from fuel tank debris at launch. Late last week, NASA also cleared a tiny micrometeorite scuff on one of Endeavour's windows and a small, 3 1/2-inch by 2-inch (9-centimeter by 5-centimeter) gouge in the orbiter's belly-mounted tiles of any concern.

Endeavour's STS-118 mission is NASA's second of up to four planned shuttle flights this year dedicated to ISS assembly.

"Time has really flown by, we've accomplished a lot," Kelly said Saturday during a brief farewell ceremony, adding that the team work between crews led to the mission's success. "It's great being part of one big team between shuttle crew and this station crew."

NASA is broadcasting Endeavour's STS-118 mission live on NASA TV. Click here for mission updates and SPACE.com's NASA TV feed.

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