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After Wing Fix, Astronauts Tearfully Exit Station

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By MARCIA DUNN, The Associated Press

Published: November 5, 2007

CAPE CANAVERAL - Still on "a major high" from their successful solar wing repair, the 10 astronauts aboard the linked shuttle Discovery and International Space Station cried as they hugged goodbye Sunday and closed the door between them.

The most tears came from the two men who traded places on the space station: Clayton Anderson, who is headed home after five months in orbit, and Daniel Tani, who is starting a two-month mission.

They repeatedly wiped their eyes during the farewell ceremony, held a day before Discovery undocks for its return to Earth.

The two commanders, the shuttle's Pamela Melroy and the station's Peggy Whitson, also were teary-eyed as they hugged one another.

Just before the hatches between the spacecraft closed, station flight director Derek Hassmann thanked the astronauts for their hard work, noting that the past four or five days were "a complete blur." That's how much time passed from the moment a solar energy panel on a newly installed beam ripped while being unfurled until it was fixed during an unprecedented spacewalk Saturday by astronaut Scott Parazynski.

After pulling away this morning, the shuttle will fly a full lap around the station, primarily for picture-taking. Engineers are interested in seeing how the newly mended solar wing is affected by the vibrations of undocking.

Discovery's 15-day mission will end with a Wednesday touchdown.

The shuttle dropped off nearly 34,000 pounds of gear at the space station, most notably a pressurized compartment the size of a school bus that will serve as a docking port for future laboratories. Whitson and her crew will move the compartment, named Harmony, to its permanent location next week.

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