The shuttle Atlantis undocked from the international space station today, closing out a successful visit to attach a new set of solar arrays and clearing the way for launch of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft early Monday carrying the lab's next commander, a fresh flight engineer and a space tourist.

Atlantis' docking system was disengaged on time at 8:50 a.m. and powerful springs pushed the shuttle, tail toward Earth and cargo bay facing the station, straight away as the two spacecraft sailed 220 miles above the Pacific Ocean southeast of Australia.

Shuttle pilot Chris Ferguson piloted Atlantis through a slow, looping fly around of the international space station after undocking, beaming back spectacular video of the orbital lab complex with its new solar arrays gleaming against the blue-and-white backdrop of planet Earth.

It was the first 360-degree shuttle-station fly around of the post-Columbia era and the first since 2002 to show the station with a significant new addition: the P3/P4 solar array truss carried aloft and installed by Atlantis' crew.

Streaking through space at 5 miles per second 220 miles above the heartland of America, the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, the new array gave the outpost a distinctly asymmetrical look, positioned at right angles to its other major set of solar panels, the P6 array.

P6 provided power for the early stages of station assembly in a temporary position atop a truss on the Unity module. Next year, if all goes well, it will be moved to its permanent position adjacent to the P4 arrays on the left end of the station's main power truss.

"Hey Jeff, we completed the fly-around," shuttle commander Brent Jett called as the shuttle began moving away. "I just wanted to let you know we got a lot of great pictures, it was really a spectacular sight to see your vehicle from above, looking down on the Earth. So hopefully, we'll get to send some of those to you over the next couple of days and we'll see you back on Earth in a little while."

"Yeah, we'll look forward to seeing those," station flight engineer Jeff Williams replied from the lab complex. "I think we got some pretty good pictures and video of you guys in the fly around as well, especially underneath with the Earth in the background. So those pictures will be on the ground when you get there, waiting for you. It was a great mission, thanks for all the good work, enjoyed the time together and look forward to seeing you back in Houston."

"Yeah, we really appreciate it," Jett replied, "it was fun working with you guys. Be safe the rest of your mission."

"You bet. So long now."

Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now

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