CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Shuttle Endeavour departed the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, leaving behind a fresh crew of three men who are to spend the next four months living and working aboard the orbiting outpost."Try to keep your sense of humor," were the parting words of wisdom offered by shuttle commander Jim Wetherbee to the new station science officer, Don Pettit, as the pair said good bye a couple of hours before undocking.
"Oh, I will," Pettit could be heard saying via a microphone that was left on to broadcast the final farewells.
Hatches between the two ships were then shut by 12:57 p.m. EST (1757 GMT) and precisely on time, at 3:05 p.m. EST (2005 GMT), the 100-ton spaceplane pulled away from the nearly 200-ton laboratory complex as incoming Expedition Six commander Ken Bowersox rang the station's bell from inside the Unity node.
"Endeavour, departing," the new station skipper said.
The two ships had spent six days, 22 hours and six minutes docked together.
During that time the crews successfully attached the P1 truss segment, staged three spacewalks to outfit and connect the girder assembly to the rest of the station's plumbing, and exchanged more than a ton of supplies and equipment between the orbiter and outpost.
"It's so much quieter here now, Houston. I don't know what the deal is,'' Bowersox said as the shuttle moved off."We're still here with you,'' Mission Control replied.
"That's good to know. We'd be really lonely without you guys,'' Bowersox said.
In fact, the Expedition Six crew are not scheduled to receive any human visitors during their planned stay in space. The next people they see should be the Expedition Seven crew, who are to be sent aboard a shuttle to relieve them in March of next year.
For now the new station crew, which includes cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin, will have to make do with their memories of working with the Expedition Five and STS-113 shuttle crews during the past week.
"It's been so much fun serving with them the last few days. We've been working like one big gigantic crew and I couldn't have anticipated how smooth and how well we've been able to work together. We're going to miss them while they're gone," Bowersox said.
Endeavour pilot Paul Lockhart was at the controls as he backed the shuttle away from the ISS to a distance of about 400 feet (122 meters) and then maneuvered the spaceplane above the station, at which point he fired the steering jets again to separate the two spacecraft a safe distance.
With that final burn complete, Wetherbee and Bowersox -- both Navy captains -- wished each other well one more time.
"Fair winds and following seas,'' Wetherbee said.
"We wish you a safe landing and warm greetings and hugs from all your friends and families down below,'' Bowersox replied.
About an hour later, with the shuttle some 10 miles (16 kilometers) away from the station, Endeavour's crew deployed a pair of small satellites that are part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) military technology demonstration program.
The twin spacecraft -- each four inches by four inches by five inches and attached by a 50-foot tether -- are designed to test the ability of small satellites to remain close to larger spacecraft as they circle Earth.
The idea is that such small spacecraft could be equipped with cameras or sensors to monitor activities associated with the larger vehicle.
With that deploy behind them, Endeavour's crew began packing up for the return to Earth and then planned to enjoy a couple of hours of off-duty time.
They may get a lot more time to stare out the windows in the days to come.
Endeavour is now aiming for a planned landing at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, but a developing storm system is threatening to cause problems for landing attempts on Wednesday and Thursday.
The shuttle has enough supplies to remain in space through this weekend, officials said Monday.
NASA would like to land in Florida, mostly to avoid the cost, schedule hit and risk associated with ferrying the orbiter cross country from California atop a modified 747 jumbo jet.
Families of the crewmembers and a medical research team also are ready to greet the crew in Florida, especially the Expedition Five crew who have spent the past six months in space.
The shuttle crew are to spend Tuesday getting ready for the return to Earth and will spend the day packing and testing the orbiter systems they'll need for re-entry.
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