Atlantis closes hatch, as last shuttle prepares to leave ISS

Jul 18, 2011, 13:57 GMT

Washington - The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis said their goodbyes Monday as the last shuttle prepared to leave the International Space Station (ISS).

It is the last time a shuttle will be connected to the orbiting laboratory, which was constructed largely on the back of the 30-year-old shuttle fleet. NASA will retire the shuttles after Atlantis returns home.

Before leaving the ISS, the shuttle astronauts hugged their US, Russian and Japanese colleagues on the ISS crew.

Shuttle commander Chris Ferguson gave the ISS crew a space shuttle model signed by many of those who have worked on the programme. Thanking the ground crews who made the shuttle flight possible, Ferguson saluted the 'tens of thousands who rose to orbit with us if only in spirit.'

The Atlantis also left behind a small American flag that had also flown on the first shuttle mission in 1981. The flag will be displayed in the portion of the station where shuttles have docked until a US-flown spacecraft again arrives at the ISS.

NASA then hopes to fly the same flag aboard a spacecraft venturing out of low-Earth orbit to an asteroid or the moon.

US astronaut Ron Garan, who is living aboard the ISS with five other astronauts, called the closing of the hatch the 'closing of a chapter in the history of our nation.'

The shuttle will undock from the station early Tuesday before flying around the ISS one last time and beginning its journey home.

Atlantis brought more than 4 metric tons of cargo and spare parts to outfit the ISS for a year. The shuttle is the only spacecraft big enough to carry up such large loads, although Russian, European and Japanese craft can bring smaller cargo to the station.

'Thanks for leaving the ISS ready to go for the rest of the decade,' Garan said.

Earlier Monday, the crew had used the ISS's robotic arm to load a canister that had been used to bring the cargo aloft back into the shuttle. The Italian-made Raffaello carrier has now been loaded with 2,585 kilogrammes of unneeded materials for Atlantis to bring back to Earth.

The shuttle is due to land Thursday at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.