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US space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of six departed from the International Space Station and headed back to Earth wrapping up NASA’s next-to-last shuttle flight.
The undocking took place at 11:55 pm (0355 GMT today), at a time when the space station and shuttle was be 215 miles (350 kilometres) over La Paz, Bolivia, NASA said.
The six-member crew of the Endeavour — five US astronauts and Italian Roberto Vittori — bid farewell to three colleagues on board the space station (ISS) and closed the hatches between the shuttle and station at 7:23 am (1123 GMT) yesterday.
The parting goodbyes between the ISS crew and the six members of the Endeavour crew-led by shuttle commander Mark Kelly — took place around 7 a.m. EDT yesterday, terminating around 11 total days of connection between the two spacecraft.
Kelly was the final crew member to float off the ISS. “We’re looking forward to getting home,” Kelly said, “and we’re going to leave these guys to some peace and quiet and not disturb their space station any more.”
In total, the Endeavour crew has been on four spacewalks and has performed a series of equipment installations as part of Endeavour’s final mission.
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