Shuttle Undocks: Tearful Farewells, Landing Ahead

Nov. 5, 2007 — -- Before the Space Shuttle Discovery undocked from the space station this morning, the crews of both the shuttle and the station had tearful, but kind, words for one another.

STS 120 has been one of the most dramatic space shuttle missions to date. It was an ambitious mission before it even launched, with five planned spacewalks, the addition of the new Harmony module to the space station and the relocation of one of the solar arrays.

The mission changed rapidly when the solar array that was being deployed turned out to be torn. Teams worked around the clock scrambling to put together a repair spacewalk. Astronaut Scott Parazynski saved the day when he successfully stitched the hole together using five devices improvised from parts scavenged on board the shuttle and the space station.

When the crews said goodbye Sunday before closing the shuttle hatch to the space station, it was very emotional. Astronaut Clay Anderson is returning to Earth on Discovery after six months on the space station. It was hard for him to say farewell.

"Today's my last day aboard the International Space Station, Alpha," he said. "Five months ago, I was lying on my back in the middeck of the orbiter Atlantis, preparing to launch into orbit for the first time and wondering what the heck I'd gotten myself into. And now I'm poised to return to Earth after having served very proudly on board this magnificent complex."

"I'm filled with a lot of different emotions," Anderson said." I have a lot of blood, sweat and tears that I've left on board the International Space Station. It's a very wonderful place."

Astronaut Kevin Ford responded from Mission Control in Houston.

"Hey Clay, we appreciate the words," Ford said. "Great work on your expedition and we're looking forward to having you back here."

Derek Hassman, the lead flight director, got on the line and told the crew, "It's really, really great to see everybody together there in the lab. I just wanted to echo Kevin's comments. It was an honor and a privilege to watch you guys do your work. What an unbelievably successful mission. Great job, guys. Thanks."

Dan Tani is replacing Anderson on the space station; Tani hitched a ride up on Discovery.

Shuttle Cmdr. Pam Melroy choked back tears as well, as she welcomed Anderson and said goodbye to Tani and her colleagues on the space station, Cmdr. Peggy Whitson and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko.

"I guess this is the time when Discovery officially welcomes Clay with open arms to our crew," Melroy said. "We can't wait to bring you home to your family and we're very happy to have you. It's not even a question of fitting in, because our crews have matched so well. There's been a lot of laughter and a lot of fun and a lot of really hard work over the last few docked days.

"And it's also our time to say farewell to Dan. He told me not to do this," she said as she cried. "Dan has brought us so many wonderful memories and so many wonderful moments. We're going to miss you terribly. We promise we'll send somebody to come pick you up and bring you home.

Discovery's crew will spend today inspecting the orbiter to make sure it wasn't damaged by micrometeorites while it was docked to the space station.