Space Shuttle Undocks from Space Station

Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun, Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev and NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson departed the International Space Station for the final time today. Along with the STS-113 crew, they bid farewell to the Expedition Six crew before the hatches were closed between the station and Space Shuttle Endeavour at 11:57 a.m. CST (1757 GMT).

Expedition Five had a six-month stay, during which the orbital outpost began its outward expansion with the additions of the S1 (S-One) and P1 (P-One) Trusses. The crew also performed two spacewalks and worked with science experiments.

Endeavour is slated to undock at 2:05 p.m. CST (2005 GMT) today. The station’s new residents — Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit — are in the early stages of a tour of duty that is scheduled to end in March.