Space Shuttle Discovery Leaves Newly Configured International Space Station

Image Above: The International Space Station as seen from space shuttle Discovery after undocking. Image credit: NASA TV

Discovery undocked from the International Space Station at 5:32 a.m. today. The shuttle and station crews ended joint operations when the hatches closed at 3:03 p.m. EST Sunday.

STS-120’s stay at the station began Oct. 25 and featured four spacewalks to continue the on-orbit construction of the station. Discovery also carried the Harmony Node 2 module and a new crew member, Daniel Tani, to the station.

The crews installed Harmony Oct. 26 and conducted four spacewalks during STS-120. During the third spacewalk, the crews installed the P6 truss and solar array pair in its permanent location outboard of the port truss. The fourth spacewalk was changed during the mission so that the crews could repair a torn solar array on the P6 truss. Following the successful repair work, the crews were able to fully deploy the solar array.