[sarex] STS-117 Leaves Station With New Truss, Crew Member

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*STS-117 Leaves Station With New Truss, Crew Member*

s117e08045 -- The International Space StationImage above: The 
International Space Station is viewed from Space
Shuttle Atlantis after undocking Tuesday, June 19 at
10:42 a.m. EDT. Image credit: NASA;

TO VIEW IMAGE GO 
TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

When the STS-117 crew members undocked space shuttle Atlantis at 10:42 
a.m. EDT Tuesday, they left the International Space Station bigger and 
more powerful than it was when they arrived. Atlantis also delivered a 
new Expedition 15 crew member to the orbital outpost.

Expedition 15 welcomed its visitors onto the station June 10 shortly 
after Atlantis docked. A few hours later Astronaut Clayton Anderson 
replaced Suni Williams as a flight engineer on the Expedition 15 crew. 
Williams will return to Earth with STS-117, wrapping up a six-month-plus 
stay in space during which she became the new record holder for the 
longest single spaceflight by a woman.

On June 11, the STS-117 crew installed the Starboard 3 and 4 truss 
segment onto the station. The visiting astronauts conducted four 
spacewalks to activate the new truss and its solar arrays. The S3/S4 is 
45 feet long and weighs 35,678 pounds. The S3/S4 also contains a rotary 
joint that will allow its arrays to track the sun. The S3/S4 arrays 
increase the station’s power generation capabilities.

The STS-117 crew also assisted with the retraction of the Port 6 (P6) 
truss array. The P6 will be relocated from atop the station to the end 
of the Port 5 truss by a future shuttle crew.

The next shuttle mission scheduled to visit the International Space 
Station is STS-118 in August.