Hatches between the craft swung shut and were sealed at 8:14 a.m. EST (13:14 GMT) after the shuttle crew bid adieu to Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts during what turned out to be a private farewell not broadcast on NASA TV.

With rookie pilot Mark Polansky at the controls, Atlantis then undocked from the station at 9:06 a.m. EST (14:06 GMT) as the shuttle and the 17-story outpost flew in formation high above the western Pacific Ocean just south of the Marianna Islands.

Polansky slowly backed Atlantis to a point 450 feet (136.5 meters) directly below the 112-ton station, which now sports four pressurized wings: The Russian space tug Zarya, the Russian Zvezda crew quarters, the American Unity module and the U.S. Destiny lab.

Flying tail-first with the shuttle's black-tile belly facing Earth, Polansky then flew a half loop around the station while camera-toting crewmates snapped pictures and beamed back video of the international complex.

Gleaming in the light of an orbital sunrise over the south Pacific were the linked U.S. and Russian station segments as well as the outpost's jutting appendages, the most striking of which were glimmering gold American solar wings.

Pitch-black deep space served as a velvet backdrop for the power-producing arrays, which stretch 240 feet (73 meters) from tip to tip -- a wingspan that matches that of a 747 jumbo jet.

"An amazing view of the International Space Station - in full color," NASA flight commentator Kyle Herring said.

Other views showed the shiny station zooming over a cloud-covered blue planet as the American arrays tracked the sun, rotating into a position that enables them to gather solar energy in the most productive and efficient manner.

Enamored with the scenery outside shuttle crew cabin windows, the Atlantis astronauts asked for permission to continue the station fly-around but fuel reserves proved to be too low. The shuttle crew nevertheless was a happy bunch.

"We thank you for the half lap," Cockrell said.

"Good job on the fly-around," astronaut Mario Runco said from NASA's Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

"Thanks, it was awesome to get to do that," Polansky replied.

The four-man, one-woman Atlantis crew originally intended to fly a full 360-degree victory lap around the station, but that plan was adjusted after a series of station-boosting maneuvers earlier in the flight.

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The lengthy shuttle jet-thruster firings enabled Atlantis to raise the altitude of the station by about 16 miles (25.6 kilometers), placing the complex in an orbit some 237 miles (379 kilometers) above the planet.

Halving the planned fly-around enabled the Atlantis crew to boost the station an extra half-mile (0.8 kilometers) while still providing for a fairly extensive photo survey of the exterior of the growing outpost.

"We looked at [the situation] and said if we can get the photography we want with a half loop, then we'd rather have the half-mile of altitude," NASA lead flight director Robert Castle told SPACE.com during a news briefing Thursday.

Now larger in terms of habitable space than NASA's 1970s Skylab complex or Russia's Mir station, the international outpost dips earthward due to atmospheric drag and periodically is reboosted to keep it in its intended operational orbit.

The prime goal of NASA's 102nd shuttle mission was the successful delivery of the first of six research facilities that eventually will be launched to the station, which also is known by the radio call sign "Alpha."

About the size of a school bus, the Destiny lab was mounted to the outpost last Saturday with a spacewalking assist from Atlantis mission specialists Robert Curbeam and Tom Jones.

Shepherd thanked the shuttle courier crew for the special delivery as Polansky carried out a final jet-thruster firing that propelled Atlantis out of the station's vicinity.

"Alpha would like to salute the crew of Atlantis as you depart for Earth. We want to say thanks to the shuttle and station teams and the whole station partnership for bringing aboard a great new capability - the research lab Destiny," Shepherd said. "We will use it well."

"We enjoyed helping in continuing the research that you guys have begun, and the project that you have begun," Cockrell replied.

During a weeklong stay at the station, shuttle crewmates Curbeam and Jones carried out three spacewalks aimed mainly at wiring up the newly arrived lab so critical systems within it could be activated.

All that work largely went as planned, and the astronauts also hauled some 3,000 pounds (13,50 kilograms) of supplies and equipment into the outpost.

Another 850 pounds (382.5 kilograms) of discarded equipment and trash was transferred to Atlantis for the return trip to Earth.

The shuttle astronauts will spend the day Saturday stowing gear on their spaceship and testing flight control systems key to a safe landing.

Atlantis and its crew remain scheduled for a 12:52 p.m. (17:52 GMT) landing Sunday here at Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

Shepherd and his two Russian colleagues - cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev - will spend the next few weeks activating systems in the Destiny lab and preparing for the arrival of a replacement crew.

The so-called Expedition 2 crew - which includes Russian cosmonaut and station commander Yuri Usachev, as well as NASA astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms, will be ferried up to the outpost aboard shuttle Discovery after a planned March 8 launch.

A four-man orbiter crew aboard Discovery then will taxi Shepherd, Gidzenko and Krikalev back to the planet after 140 days in space. Their due date here at KSC: March 20.