CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The astronauts upon NASA's next-to-last shuttle airline ticket floated from the International Space Station on Sunday and also then closed this hatch at the rear of them, soon after one final circular of nice would like and also embraces.
All this remained seemed to be space shuttle Endeavour's undocking overdue Sunday evening in addition to it is two-day getaway home.
Shuttle commander Mark Kelly stated the one particular 1/2 several weeks connected with joint trip travelled well. He had been the last to be able to abandon the area station, ongoing for some a few moments by using that three area place residents.
"We're looking forward to acquiring home," Kelly said, "and we live likely to depart these kinds of people for some calmness and quiet and not disturb their own breathing space station any kind of more."
"It appeared to be excellent experiencing an individual guys," mentioned section homeowner Ronald Garan Jr. "We were just simply in awe of your finely oiled machine."
The station's skipper, Russian Andrey Borisenko, expected the 6 months time shuttle astronauts a "soft landing."
Endeavour will probably go back to Florida while in the pre-dawn a long time connected with Wednesday, not to ever take flight in room again. The shuttle are going to be retired into a art gallery within California subsequent the 16-day mission, its 25th.
On its final journey, Endeavour sent some sort of $2 billion cosmic ray detector which will continue to be around the area place to the next decade.
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer undoubtedly is getting involved in collecting 25 million to help forty million cosmic contaminants daily worthy of analysis. It's searching for antimatter as well as dark matter, and scientists desire the actual results will shed light on the particular origin in the universe.
Kelly along with his / her crew also provided the area place which includes a platform whole involving resign components and an proxy boom pertaining to future repair work. The boom, fitted Friday within the fourth spacewalk associated with the mission, proclaimed the completion belonging to the U.S. part with the room station.
The astronauts likewise done a lot of the significant life-support systems inside, in an hard work to help abandon your orbiting outpost from the best possible shape for any shuttle-less decades ahead.
Astronauts Mike Fincke in addition to Gregory Chamitoff who invested several weeks residing within the space train station in years past pretended these people decided not to want to keep Sunday morning. They were ripped directly into that shuttle by simply their particular crewmates. Garan joined throughout within the joke, waving goodbye while in the event that he had been heading out aboard Endeavour seeing that well. He's just not one but two months into his or her five-month train station stay.
All told, the actual hatches concerning the two spacecraft were available 11 days.
Only an additional shuttle airline ticket remains to get NASA.
Atlantis will probably great time off July seven using a load involving place rail station resources to help in close proximity out the actual 30-year shuttle program.
Kelly, meanwhile, will certainly now take over to search with no daily calls to help his or her wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He used the space station's Internet mobile phone to help keep abreast of your ex condition, and NASA possibly organized your videoconference between the two.
Giffords is actually undergoing rehabilitate throughout Houston for a gunshot wound on the head. She was critically wounded Jan. 8 in Tucson, Ariz., within a political event. She joined Kelly's introduction May 16 and, two days later, underwent brain reconstruction.
She isn't predicted to be at Kennedy Space Center to get Endeavour's homecoming presented this bothersome hour: 2:35 a.m.
_
Online:
NASA:
No comments:
Post a Comment