Endeavour Undocks from ISS

Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station on time at 9:32 a.m. Central time today as the two craft flew 240 statute miles over western Kazakhstan, leaving a new trio of station residents behind to begin their 4 1/2 month mission on the complex.

With Pilot Paul Lockhart at the controls, Endeavour began to back away from the docking port on the front end of the station’s Destiny Laboratory, and about 40 minutes later, Lockhart began a one-hour flyaround of the ISS to enable his crewmates to document the condition of the complex through video and still photography.

As Endeavour moved away from the ISS, Expedition Five Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson rang the ship’s bell in the Unity module, signaling the departure of Endeavour and her Expedition Four colleagues, Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, who completed 190 days on board the ISS. When they land on Monday, Walz and Bursch will have spent 194 days since their launch on Endeavour last December 5, the longest single U.S. spaceflight in history.

Speaking on a ship-to-ship radio link, Bursch wished Whitson and her crewmates Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev smooth sailing. They are due to remain in orbit until mid-October.