Discovery Undocks, Leaves Space Station in Top Shape

Space shuttle Discovery and its crack construction crew pulled away from the international space station on Friday, leaving it shipshape for the arrival of its first full-time residents in less than two weeks.

The shuttle undocked from the station as the two spacecraft soared 240 miles above Brazil.

“Thanks for your tremendous efforts this week,” Mission Control told Discovery’s seven astronauts. “You did a spectacular job assembling all the new pieces of the station.”

The next people to see the space station will be American astronaut Bill Shepherd and his Russian crew mates, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev. They are scheduled to rocket away from Kazakstan on Oct. 31 and arrive at the space station on Nov. 2 for a four-month stay.

“We think that they’re going to be very happy living in their new home,” said shuttle commander Brian Duffy. “It’s a beautiful place.”

Added his co-pilot, Pamela Melroy: “Everything is new and clean and shiny.”

Almost all of the space station work by Discovery’s crew was done on the outside. The astronauts installed two new segments on the space station--a docking port for future shuttle visits and an aluminum framework housing antennas and motion-control gyroscopes. Four spacewalks were performed on four successive days.

Discovery’s astronauts had to work around a series of problems, most notably a failed antenna and a short circuit, but accomplished all their major objectives and got the place ready for its first crew.

Discovery’s 11-day mission is due to end Sunday afternoon.