Space Station Ready For Residents

Sat., Oct. 21, 2000

Space shuttle Discovery and its construction crew pulled away from the international space station on Friday, leaving it shipshape for the arrival of its first full-time residents in less than two weeks.

The shuttle undocked from the station as the two spacecraft soared 240 miles above Brazil.

“Thanks for your tremendous efforts this week,” Mission Control told Discovery’s seven astronauts. “You did a spectacular job assembling all the new pieces of the station.”

The next people to see the space station will be American astronaut Bill Shepherd and his Russian crew mates, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev. They are scheduled to take off from Kazakstan on Oct. 31 and arrive on Nov. 2 for a four-month stay.

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Space Station Ready For Residents

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