First Views of ISS at Full Length, Full Power

By Nancy Atkinson - March 25, 2009 at 3:54 PM UTC | Space Exploration
iss-nasa.jpg

[/caption] Space shuttle Discovery undocked from the ISS on Wednesday, providing the dramatic first views of the space station with its full company of solar arrays unfurled. "Discovery, Alpha, Godspeed," ISS commander Mike Fincke radioed after the shuttle departed. "Thanks for making us symmetrical, giving us full power, and all the other wonderful things you did for us. You did great work. Come again."

"Thanks for the great work as well," shuttle commander Lee Archambault replied. "Have a good one, we'll see you on the ground in about a month."

The fly-around was timed to begin at orbital sunrise, to allow for good lighting for the much anticipated pictures. But everyone had to wait until later for a high-definition video replay on NASA TV. The shuttle's KU-band television antenna didn't have a good link with NASA's relay satellites until after the fly-around was complete. The image above has been updated to show an official NASA image taken by the Discovery astronauts during the flyaround, and below are a few screenshots from the high-def replay, showing different views of the ISS, post undocking.

UPDATE: Video of the flyaround is now available, and can be seen below:

[caption id="attachment_27896" align="aligncenter" width="321" caption="Screenshot of ISS flyaround by shuttle Discovery. Credit: NASA TV"]

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[caption id="attachment_27897" align="aligncenter" width="318" caption="ISS. Credit: NASA TV"]

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At a mission briefing after the undocking, mission managers expressed their excitement at seeing the images of the space station at full length, saying they felt an extreme amount of pride and joy for everyone involved with the ISS project.

"We're getting ready to turn the station over to the research community," said Dan Hartman, chairman of the space station mission management team, "and they will be challenged to keep the crew busy -- and that's a good thing. By the end of May (when the ISS crew size will increase to six), we'll be ready to go."

The Discovery crew took Sandy Magnus along with them, bringing her her home after her long-duration stay on the ISS, and left behind Koichi Wakata, Japan's first long-duration astronaut.

The shuttle is scheduled to land on Saturday, March 28 with the first landing opportunity at 1:43 pm EDT.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com