Shuttle heads home

Astronaut Robert Curbeam waves to a shuttle crewmate

The shuttle Atlantis has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) as the two spacecraft flew 380 kilometres (237 miles) above the Earth.

The shuttle astronauts said farewell to the long-term crew of the ISS, after a week-long mission to install the $1.4bn (£960m) science lab Destiny.

I guess the hardest part is just seeing crews depart without really having a lot of time to socialise

ISS commander Bill Shepherd

Atlantis is scheduled to return to Earth on Sunday.

The space station's crew - who have been aboard the ISS since early November - are due to return to Earth in March aboard space shuttle Discovery.

For the three-strong US and Russian crew of the ISS, it was the second time they had said goodbye to a visiting shuttle crew.

Brief visit

Space shuttle Endeavour visited the space station in early December.

"I guess the hardest part is just seeing crews depart without really having a lot of time to socialise," said ISS commander Bill Shepherd.

"We did a little bit of yakking (Wednesday) night. It was very good."

Attaching the lab was a delicate operation

The crews of Atlantis and the ISS spent their last full day together on Thursday, finishing the transfer of supplies between the two spacecraft.

The crews moved a total of 1,350 kilograms (3,000 pounds) of equipment and supplies to the station from Atlantis, including water, food, spare parts, a spare carbon dioxide-removal unit, a spare computer, clothes and DVDs.

Atlantis will be taking about 380 kilograms (850 pounds) of rubbish from the ISS back home, including used batteries, packing materials and empty food containers.

New 'star'

With the addition of Destiny, the space station is now the largest-ever man-made complex in space, orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 400 kilometres (244 miles).

Shuttle Commander Bill Shepherd admires the view

Space shuttle commander Kenneth Cockrell said he and his crew were pleasantly surprised the lab's installation went as well as it did.

"Almost every task that we've done has turned out to be a little easier here in orbit than what we've trained for," he said.

The 13,500-kilogram (30,000-pound) lab module has worked well, except for its carbon dioxide-removal system, which has a malfunctioning pump.

Flight director Bob Castle said engineers are still trying to determine what is wrong with the pump.

The only other problem involved one of the space station's four motion-control gyroscopes. It abruptly stopped working on Thursday but was running again within minutes.