HOUSTON -- With heartfelt hugs and wide
smiles, seven
astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle
Discovery departed the International Space
Station (ISS) Tuesday after eight days of orbital construction work.
Discovery's
STS-116 astronauts cast off from their ISS berth at 5:10 p.m. EST (2210 GMT), leaving
a very different space station behind than the one they arrived at last week [image,
video].
"For
Alpha, from the crew of Discovery, we wish you smooth sailing," STS-116
commander Mark Polansky radioed to the ISS crew after undocking as both spacecraft
flew over the eastern Pacific Ocean. "We hope
you enjoy the new electrical system onboard station."
Polansky
and his STS-116 crewmates installed a new
portside piece of the ISS, overhauled
the orbital laboratory's power grid and stayed an extra day for an
unplanned fourth
spacewalk to wrangle a wily
solar array into its storage boxes on Monday.
The
construction work leaves the station ready to accept new solar array segments,
as well as European
and Japanese laboratories currently set to launch aboard shuttle flights in
the next two years. Discovery shuttle
pilot William Oefelein flew the orbiter on a
partial fly-around of the ISS after undocking, giving the STS-116
astronauts a bird's eye view of their orbital handiwork [image].
"It's
always a goal to try and leave someplace in a better shape
than it was when you came, and I think we've accomplished that," Polansky said before leaving the ISS. "I hope that we're
really on our way to a great start for [ISS] assembly completion."
The seven
STS-116 astronauts and three Expedition 14 spaceflyers recorded video and
snapped photographs while exchanging handshakes, hugs and warm words to mark
their separation [image].
Discovery
is due to land at NASA's Kennedy
Space Center
on Friday at 3:56 p.m. EST (1856 GMT). Discovery must land no later than
Saturday because of supply limitations.
"We bid a
bittersweet farewell to Discovery," Expedition 14 commander Michael
Lopez-Alegria said during a brief ceremony. "And we'd like to welcome Suni
to our crew."
ISS crew
change complete
One STS-116
astronaut, first-time spaceflyer Sunita
"Suni" Williams, is remaining behind onboard the ISS as a member of its Expedition
14 crew. She is relieving European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas
Reiter, who has lived and worked aboard the station in his arrival
in July.
"I hope
Discovery takes you home as smoothly and safely as it brought me here,"
Williams told Reiter.
Reiter is
returning to Earth aboard Discovery,
and received a warm send-off by Lopez-Alegria and fellow
Expedition 14 flight engineer Mikhail
Tyurin.
"By the
power vested in me, which I just invented, we would like to make you an honorary
member of NASA's astronaut corps," Lopez-Alegria said, dubbing the German
spaceflyer a "model astronaut" and presenting him with makeshift NASA wings.
A veteran
of two long-duration spaceflights, one to Russia's
Mir
and the other aboard ISS, Reiter's current mission returned the station to
three-astronaut operations for the first time since the 2003 Columbia accident.
"It's been
an exciting time, so it's hard to let go," Reiter said before leaving the space
station. "I'm really excited to get back on the ground."
In addition
to their ISS construction and crew exchange duties, Discovery's STS-116
astronauts delivered about 5,215 pounds (2,365 kilograms) of spare
parts, new equipment and fresh supplies for the space station's crew. The
orbiter left the outpost with about 3,725 pounds (1,689 kilograms) of
unneeded supplies, completed experiments and other hardware.
Shuttle
inspections on tap
Before
landing, Discovery's astronaut crew has a few more tasks ahead, including a
second heat shield survey and the launch of several
microsatellites from a palette at the rear of the orbiter's payload bay.
Known as a late
inspection, the heat shield survey is a mirror image of one performed on
Dec. 10 and includes scans of the orbiter's vital heat-resistant panels along
its wing leading edges and nose cap. Unlike the initial
look, which was aimed at identifying any damage caused by shuttle external
tank or ice during launch, late inspections target new impacts or dings from micrometeorite
hits or orbital debris.
Discovery
will take up a position about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the ISS until the
late inspection is complete, staying within range of the orbital laboratory -
which can also serve as a shuttle safe haven - until the orbiter's heat shield
is once more cleared for landing, NASA officials said.
Discovery
carries three small technology-demonstrating satellites to be deployed in the
next two days. Two are due for deployment after the heat shield inspection
Wednesday, with the third to fly on Thursday.
Mission
managers hope to land Discovery and its STS-116 astronauts at the Kennedy Space
Center's Shuttle Landing Facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida,
weather permitting. They are also preparing alternate runways at California's Edwards Air Force Base and New
Mexico's White
Sands Space
Harbor if required.
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