Avi Blizovsky
The space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-121 has completed its stay on the International Space Station. She left the station on Saturday, 13:08 Israel time. The separation occurred when the two spacecraft were flying over the Pacific Ocean, north of New Zealand.
In the shuttle six astronauts after one of those who came with it, the German Thomas Reiter joined the 13th crew of the International Space Station. During the mission, members of the Discovery crew performed three spacewalks designed to perform maintenance on the space station and experiments on repairing the shuttle's heat shield.
Pilot Mark Kelly flew Discovery to a point above the station before firing the engines at 13:57 p.m.
STS-121 crew members used the shuttle's robotic arm and sensor system to perform an examination of the wingtips and nose dome. Discovery will remain approximately 75 km behind the station until NASA personnel review the results of these images and confirm the landing.
Currently, Discovery is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday at 15:14 Israel time.
Updates regarding operation STS-121
Drafting and editing: H. J. Glykasm, translations and technical writing
