Atlantis Leaves Station, Begins Journey Home

NASA-The STS-117 crew members ended their stay at the International Space Station Tuesday when they undocked Space Shuttle Atlantis at 10:42 a.m. EDT. Attention now turns to landing, scheduled for 1:54 p.m. Thursday. Following undocking, Pilot Lee Archambault flew Atlantis 360 degrees around the station to collect video and imagery of the station and its newly expanded solar wings. He then completed the final separation engine burn at 12:28 p.m.

Later in the day, Archambault and Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson used the shuttle robot arm and the 50-foot long Orbiter Boom Sensor System to conduct a late inspection of the thermal protection system.

The crew will spend Wednesday preparing for landing. Atlantis’ first landing opportunity is at 1:54 p.m. Thursday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

During its stay at the station, which began June 10, the STS-117 crew continued the on-orbit construction of the station with the installation of the Starboard 3 and 4 (S3/S4) truss segment.

The crew installed the truss June 11 and conducted four spacewalks to activate the S3/S4 and assist in the retraction of solar array on the Port 6 truss. During the third spacewalk, the crew repaired an out of position thermal blanket on the left orbital maneuvering system pod.

Atlantis also delivered a new station crew member, Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson. He replaced astronaut Suni Williams, who is the new record holder for a long-duration single spaceflight for a woman. She arrived at the station in December with STS-116.