SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
*STS-117 Leaves Station With New Truss, Crew Member*
s117e08045 -- The International Space StationImage above: The International Space Station is viewed from Space Shuttle Atlantis after undocking Tuesday, June 19 at 10:42 a.m. EDT. Image credit: NASA;
TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
When the STS-117 crew members undocked space shuttle Atlantis at 10:42 a.m. EDT Tuesday, they left the International Space Station bigger and more powerful than it was when they arrived. Atlantis also delivered a new Expedition 15 crew member to the orbital outpost.
Expedition 15 welcomed its visitors onto the station June 10 shortly after Atlantis docked. A few hours later Astronaut Clayton Anderson replaced Suni Williams as a flight engineer on the Expedition 15 crew. Williams will return to Earth with STS-117, wrapping up a six-month-plus stay in space during which she became the new record holder for the longest single spaceflight by a woman.
On June 11, the STS-117 crew installed the Starboard 3 and 4 truss segment onto the station. The visiting astronauts conducted four spacewalks to activate the new truss and its solar arrays. The S3/S4 is 45 feet long and weighs 35,678 pounds. The S3/S4 also contains a rotary joint that will allow its arrays to track the sun. The S3/S4 arrays increase the station’s power generation capabilities.
The STS-117 crew also assisted with the retraction of the Port 6 (P6) truss array. The P6 will be relocated from atop the station to the end of the Port 5 truss by a future shuttle crew.
The next shuttle mission scheduled to visit the International Space Station is STS-118 in August.