{"id":463676,"date":"2011-07-19T06:31:24","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T06:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/"},"modified":"2011-07-19T06:31:24","modified_gmt":"2011-07-19T06:31:24","slug":"shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Shuttle undocks for the last time"},"content":{"rendered":"

19 July 2011<\/span> Last updated at<\/span> 02:31 ET<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By Jonathan Amos<\/span> Science correspondent, BBC News<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Atlantis<\/p>\n

Please turn on JavaScript.<\/strong> Media requires JavaScript to play.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

The Atlantis and ISS crews say their goodbyes before the hatch is closed on the shuttle<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The US shuttle Atlantis has undocked from the space station and is heading home to Earth one last time.<\/p>\n

When the orbiter lands early on Thursday morning in Florida, it will bring to a close Nasa’s 30-year re-usable spaceplane programme.<\/p>\n

The shuttle undocked on schedule at 0628 GMT.<\/p>\n

Atlantis was to push off to a distance of about 200m (600ft) and fly around the station to photograph the 400-tonne structure to check on its status.<\/p>\n

Shuttles have routinely carried out this procedure, but this inspection will be slightly different.<\/p>\n

Onboard Russian computers are commanding the ISS to swing around 90 degrees. This means Atlantis will get a different perspective on the ISS as it loops over the outpost, getting a good look along the station’s truss, or backbone, and at the ends of some of the modules.<\/p>\n

The imagery will help engineers on the ground understand better how the materials that make up the ISS are coping in the harsh environment of space.<\/p>\n

The Atlantis crew of four presented the station crew of six with two leaving presents before climbing aboard the orbiter and closing the hatch.<\/p>\n

One was a model of the shuttle – a reminder of the pivotal role the vehicle has played in building the station. The other was a small American flag flown on the very first space shuttle mission in 1981.<\/p>\n

This flag will be claimed by the first US commercial company to fly an astronaut vehicle to the ISS. Chris Ferguson, the Atlantis commander, said: “The flag represents not just a symbol of national pride and honour, but in this particular case it represents a goal.”<\/p>\n

“We’re closing a chapter in the history of our nation,” added astronaut Ronald Garan.<\/p>\n

The first private companies to transport crew to and from the station are not expected to begin operations for at least three years.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Monday, the 6.5m-long (21ft) Raffaello logistics module brought up by Atlantis and attached temporarily to the station was returned to the shuttle’s payload bay. Raffaello was used to deliver some four tonnes of supplies to the ISS, including over a tonne of food.<\/p>\n

The cylinder has been packed with about 2.5 tonnes of unneeded materials from the station that will be brought back to Earth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Follow this link:
\nShuttle undocks for the last time<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

19 July 2011 Last updated at 02:31 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News Please turn on JavaScript. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-463676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nShuttle undocks for the last time - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Shuttle undocks for the last time - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"19 July 2011 Last updated at 02:31 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News Please turn on JavaScript.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/54130000\/jpg\/_54130669_jex_1110836_de29-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Shuttle undocks for the last time\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-19T06:31:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/\"},\"wordCount\":428,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/54130000\/jpg\/_54130669_jex_1110836_de29-1.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/\",\"name\":\"Shuttle undocks for the last time - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/54130000\/jpg\/_54130669_jex_1110836_de29-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-19T06:31:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/54130000\/jpg\/_54130669_jex_1110836_de29-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/54130000\/jpg\/_54130669_jex_1110836_de29-1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Shuttle undocks for the last time - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Shuttle undocks for the last time - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"19 July 2011 Last updated at 02:31 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News Please turn on JavaScript.","twitter_image":"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/54130000\/jpg\/_54130669_jex_1110836_de29-1.jpg","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Shuttle undocks for the last time","datePublished":"2011-07-19T06:31:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/"},"wordCount":428,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/54130000\/jpg\/_54130669_jex_1110836_de29-1.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/","name":"Shuttle undocks for the last time - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/54130000\/jpg\/_54130669_jex_1110836_de29-1.jpg","datePublished":"2011-07-19T06:31:24+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/shuttle-undocks-for-the-last-time\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/54130000\/jpg\/_54130669_jex_1110836_de29-1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/54130000\/jpg\/_54130669_jex_1110836_de29-1.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}