Discovery Undocks From Station

Frank Morring, Jr./Johnson Space Center, Houston

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Houston The space shuttle Discovery backed away from the International Space Station (ISS) at 3:53 p.m. EDT March 25, ending almost eight days of docked operations that added the fourth and final solar array wing to the main station truss.

The station lost its Ku-band link a few minutes later, depriving controllers here of a live video feed as Discovery pilot Tony Antonelli flew the orbiter up, over and under the newly symmetrical station for engineering photography by its crew.

The S6 truss element, with the outermost starboard array attached, is the last major element to be delivered to the ISS. A large external platform for Japan's Kibo laboratory module is scheduled to arrive in June, but even that won't change the station's profile significantly. Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke asked Mission Control here for a copy of the flyaround video because "it would be really nice to see their handiwork."

Photo: NASA