14 DAY TRIAL // After spending about nine days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the six astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery finally had to leave the outpost last night. They undocked from the orbital facility at 8 pm EST (0100 Saturday GMT), and will spend two days in orbit, on their return trip home. The landing is scheduled to take place late on Sunday, at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida, and a new heat-shield inspection is scheduled to take place today. While some concerns were initially expressed on the state of Endeavor's protective layer, NASA experts eventually cleared the spacecraft for landing, Space reports.
Astronauts on the shuttle spent their time while docked at the ISS on installing a new room on the international facility, the Tranquility module, or Node 3. This is the last major addition that NASA will ever make to the ISS, and with it, the station is about 98 percent complete. The spacewalkers then had to move the Cupola observation deck from the Node 3 docking berth where it was installed for the journey to orbit to an Earth-facing port on Node 3. That proved to be a little more difficult than originally thought, due to a number of misfitting bolts and other pieces of metal. At some point, there were even concerns that installing the Cupola would need to be delayed until a March shuttle mission.
NASA mission planners were already thinking of how to fit the parts needed to get the Cupola to become locked in its place on Discovery, when two Endeavor astronauts managed to finally snap the huge observation dome into place. It features seven windows, six on the sides, and a very large one in the middle. Engineers explain that, while an 80-centimeter-wide piece of glass may not be the first selection for your home, it is indeed the maximum available for space with today's technology. Expedition 22, and all ISS crews that will come after it, will use the new windows to conduct observations of our planet, as well as to learn to operate the station's robotic arms more smoothly.
“Thanks very much for the great hospitality. We're sorry to go. Hope you enjoy Tranquility and the new view,” the ISS crew radioed before parting with George Zamka, who is the commander of the STS-130 mission. “Godspeed guys, we'll see you back on the planet,” NASA astronaut Jeffery Willions, who is also the commander of Expedition 22, replied. “You have had an absolutely awesome mission, but now it is time to say good-by station, hello Earth!” experts at the Mission Control told Endeavor astronauts in their morning message. NASA says that, if the weather is good, the shuttle should land safely at the KSC at 10:16 pm EST (0316 GMT), on February 21.