spacetoday.net: Shuttle undocks from station

Posted: Sun, Dec 16, 2001, 12:43 PM ET (1743 GMT)
STS-108 patch

The space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station Saturday as it prepared to return to Earth. The shuttle undocked at 12:28 pm EST (1728 GMT) Saturday, about 90 minutes later than originally planned. The delay was required to give the shuttle time to fire its thrusters while still docked to the station, moving the shuttle and station out of the way of an old Soviet rocket stage that controllers thought would pass too close to the station for comfort. The shuttle crew will spend Sunday packing up for their return to Earth, as well as deploying the Starshine 2 satellite, a small spacecraft covered with mirrors that will be tracked by students worldwide for eight months. The shuttle is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:55 pm EST (1755 GMT) Monday.