spacetoday.net: Discovery undocks from station

Posted: Wed, Dec 20, 2006, 11:31 AM ET (1631 GMT)
STS-116: undocking from ISS (NASA)

The space shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station Tuesday afternoon after completing its work on the ISS. Discovery undocked from the station's Destiny module at 5:10 pm EST (2210 GMT) and performed a half-loop around the station before departing. The shuttle had been docked to the station for eight days, performing four spacewalks to install a new truss segment, rewire the station's power systems, and held retract a balky solar array. Before landing on Friday the STS-116 crew will perform another inspection of the shuttle's tiles and panels, and also deploy three microsatellites in the shuttle's cargo bay. Landing of the shuttle is tentatively planned for Friday afternoon at the Kennedy Space Center, but NASA plans to land the shuttle in California or New Mexico in the event of poor weather in Florida.