[sarex] Hatches Close, Atlantis Set to Leave Station

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468


The STS-115 crew bid farewell to its host and left the International 
Space Station. The hatches between the station and Space Shuttle 
Atlantis closed at 6:27 a.m. EDT. (1027 UTC)

The two crews will conduct leak checks before Atlantis undocks at 8:50 
a.m. EDT. (1250 UTC)

Following undocking, Pilot Chris Ferguson will do a 360-degree 
fly-around of the station to allow his crewmates to collect imagery of 
the newly-expanded station. The fly-around will begin about 9:15 a.m. 
and conclude about 10:30 a.m.

STS-115 is the first of a series of the shuttle missions that will 
perform on-orbit construction of the station. Atlantis delivered the 
P3/P4 integrated truss to the station. The crews used the shuttle and 
station robotic arms to attach the truss to the orbital outpost. Then, 
STS-115 astronauts conducted three spacewalks in four days to prepare 
the truss and its solar arrays for operation.

Atlantis is scheduled to touch down at 5:57 a.m. Wednesday at the 
Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

For the latest information on space station activities, please visit: 
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html