SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

Atlantis Undocks From Space Station

Space Shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station at 8:50 a.m. EDT today, ending STS-115’s successful stay and setting the stage for future assembly missions.

Atlantis delivered the P3/P4 integrated truss to the station. The STS-115 and Expedition 13 crews used the shuttle and station robotic arms to attach the truss to the orbital outpost. Then, STS-115 astronauts conducted three spacewalks in four days to prepare the truss and its solar arrays for operation.

The hatches between the station and Space Shuttle Atlantis closed at 6:27 a.m. EDT.

After Atlantis undocked, Pilot Chris Ferguson performed a 360-degree fly-around of the station to allow his crewmates to collect imagery of the newly-expanded station.

Atlantis is scheduled to touch down at 5:57 a.m. Wednesday at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

For the latest information on space station activities, please visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html