Atlantis undocks from space station one final time

WASHINGTON: Shuttle Atlantis inched away from the International Space Station early Tuesday for a final time, undocking from the outpost to begin its historic return to Earth, NASA officials said.

Hours after a bittersweet farewell between Atlantis crew and astronauts stationed aboard the orbiting ISS Monday, physical separation occurred on schedule at 0628 GMT about 350 kilometers above the Pacific Ocean, concluding the final ISS docking of a shuttle in the program's 30-year history.

"Thanks so much for hosting us. It's a great station, and it's been an absolute pleasure," Atlantis commander Chris Ferguson said of his crew's nine-day stay at the ISS following the historic final shuttle launch.

"We'll miss you guys. Godspeed, soft landing and we'll see you back on Earth in the fall," space station crewmember Ronald Garan, a NASA flight engineer, said as Atlantis floated freely away.

"Farewell ISS, make us proud," came Ferguson's reply.

Upon completion of the 37th shuttle mission to help construct the ISS, Ferguson invoked the spirit of international cooperation that brought several countries together in the aftermath of the Cold War to create the orbiting outpost, and called upon his crew and that of the station to "admire and take pride in its work."

The shuttle then spent several minutes gradually pulling back to a distance of 182 meters.

Then, amid a spectacular orbital sunrise, the ISS began shifting 90 degrees to allow Atlantis to face the station's longitudinal axis, so that the shuttle can document some of the modules and equipment that other missions have not had a view of.

Atlantis, which delivered several tons of equipment and supplies to stockpile the ISS, is scheduled for a predawn touch-down Thursday at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

With the conclusion of America's vaunted shuttle program, astronauts will have to rely on Russian Soyuz rockets for rides to the ISS until a new US space craft -- a commercial launcher and capsule built by a private corporation in partnership with NASA -- is ready to fly sometime around 2015.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011