The space shuttle Discovery as seen from the International Space Station after undocking.
Photo: NASA TV
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Discovery Undocked from ISS
Discovery with the STS-120 expedition aboard undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 1:32 p.m. MSK and headed for the Earth. Its first landing opportunity is scheduled for November 7, 9:02 p.m., NASA reported.
Discovery reached ISS October 25, delivering the Harmony Node 2 module to connect Europe’s and Japan’s laboratory modules in late 2007 and early 2008. The crew did four spacewalks, busy with installing the Harmony and relocating the P6 truss.
In time of the second spacewalk, the astronauts suddenly noticed material wear of one of the turning units of the station that is necessary for solar array control. After it, the mission was prolonged for another day so that the astronauts had enough time to study and sort out the problem.
The crew was installing the arrays of P6 truss during the third spacewalk, when they saw first one and then another cut in one of the panels. The next spacewalk was twice put off for a day to enable the crew to get ready for repair. The torn solar array on the P6 truss was successfully repaired during the fourth spacewalk, which allowed to complete deployment of the solar array.
ISS astronauts Peggy Whitson and Yuri Malenchenko will do the fifth scheduled spacewalk after the shuttle flies away from the station.
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