[sarex] Crew to Conduct Inspections

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Atlantis Undocks From Space Station; Crew to Conduct Inspections*

Space Shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station at 
8:50 a.m. EDT Sunday, ending STS-115’s successful stay and setting the 
stage for future assembly missions. Now, the STS-115 crew members will 
turn their attention to returning to Earth.

Atlantis delivered the P3/P4 integrated truss to the station on Sept. 
11. The STS-115 and Expedition 13 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.

After Atlantis undocked, Pilot Chris Ferguson performed a 360-degree 
fly-around of the station to allow his crewmates to collect imagery of 
the newly-expanded station.

On Monday, the crew will use the robotic arm and boom sensor system to 
conduct an inspection of Atlantis’ heat shield. The purpose of the 
post-docking inspection is to look for damage from space junk and 
micrometeoroids.

Atlantis is scheduled to touch down at 5:57 a.m. (1057 UTC).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