Shuttle undocks after 11 days at space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- After 11 days together in orbit, space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the international space station on Tuesday and began its trip home, leaving behind a bigger and more energized outpost.
Endeavour's departure broke up the biggest orbiting crowd ever: 13 people altogether in space. Seven astronauts were headed home aboard the shuttle. Six remained on the station.
"Six seems like a very small number just now," observed space station astronaut Michael Barratt.
The two spacecraft parted company 220 miles (354 kilometers) above the Indian Ocean and the shuttle is expected to land in Florida on Friday.
During their shared flight, the two crews improved and expanded the space station, installing a porch for experiments on Japan's science lab and plugging in fresh batteries. They also shared some unexpected inconveniences, most notably a flooded toilet and an overheated air-cleansing system, both of which ended up being fixed.
On their last morning together, they even dressed alike. All wore matching black polo shirts and most of them had on tan pants.
Shuttle commander Mark Polansky thanked the station residents for being "tremendous hosts."
"It was just a wonderful, wonderful experience to be part of the first crew of 13 people up here and to have representatives from all the international partners, which made it a very special event," Polansky said just before the hatches were closed.
"We will miss you," replied the station's skipper, Russian Gennady Padalka. "Have a safe trip."
The astronauts will inspect their shuttle before landing to make sure the thermal shielding was not pierced by micrometeorites or space junk.
Coming home is Koichi Wakata, a Japanese astronaut who spent 4{ months at the space station. He was next to last to leave, waving goodbye until the moment he disappeared into the shuttle. Padalka offered him special thanks.
The very last to leave was Polansky. He jokingly counted all six station residents to make sure the head count was right.
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