Space shuttle Endeavour undocks from station

11:54, 20 February 2010

LOS ANGELES. February 20. KAZINFORM Space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station on Friday to begin the voyage back to Earth after a successful mission; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

At undocking that took place at 7:54 p.m. EST, the shuttle's Orbiter Docking System released its grip on the station's Pressurized Mating Adapter 2, and springs pushed the two vehicles gently apart, NASA said in a press release.

After initial spacecraft separation, Pilot Terry Virts manually flew the shuttle to 450 feet directly in front of the station, and then flew a circle around the station.

After the flyaround Virts fired Endeavour's jets to move the orbiter out behind the station for the late inspection of the shuttle's thermal protection system using the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, said NASA.

Weather permitting, the deorbit burn is planned for 9:13 p.m. Sunday, leading to a landing at 10:16 p.m. at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, NASA said; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

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