Shuttle, station crews say goodbye, close hatches
(Updates with hatch closing, adds astronaut quotes; changes dateline from Cape Canaveral)
By Jeff Franks
HOUSTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - After an emotional goodbye ceremony, astronauts closed the hatches between space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station on Sunday in preparation for the shuttle's Monday departure.
The 10 astronauts hugged and shook hands as they floated together in space for a final time on a mission that saw the long-awaited addition of Europe's first permanent space lab to the station.
Atlantis, which launched on Feb. 7 and arrived at the station two days later, is scheduled to undock early on Monday and land on Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The U.S. military is waiting for it to get back so it can try to shoot down a failed spy satellite loaded with toxic rocket fuel before it tumbles to Earth.
U.S. astronaut Dan Tani, who will return home aboard Atlantis after a four-month stay on the station, paid tribute to the international cooperation on the station and choked up as he remembered his mother, who died while he was in space.
Tani, 47, noted that he worked with astronauts from France, Germany, Italy and Russia during his stay.
"Nations that had not always been friendly are now cooperating and we're doing great things," he said.
"The other thing I was thinking about today was my mother... my inspiration," Tani said, fighting back tears.
Rose Tani, 90, died in a December car accident near Chicago.
French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who traveled aboard Atlantis, will remain on the station in Tani's place to oversee operations in Columbus, the European lab.
The $1.9 billion Columbus was ferried to the station on Atlantis and attached on Feb. 11. Its delivery had been put off for years by problems including the 2003 accident of space shuttle Columbia.
The next shuttle flight, set for a March 11 launch, will bring up the first part of a huge Japanese laboratory complex called Kibo.
The U.S. military plans to fire a ship-based missile at the bus-sized spy satellite, which failed shortly after launch in 2006 and is expected to plunge to Earth early in March, hoping to time its breakup so the debris falls into the ocean, not on populated areas.
It also wants to minimize the amount of debris the satellite shot would leave in space because of the danger it poses to orbiting spacecraft.
NASA and the military say the space station, which orbits more than 200 miles (320 km) above Earth, should not be in danger from any spy satellite debris.
(Additional reporting by Irene Klotz in Cape Canaveral; editing by Alan Elsner)
By Jeff Franks
HOUSTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - After an emotional goodbye ceremony, astronauts closed the hatches between space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station on Sunday in preparation for the shuttle's Monday departure.
The 10 astronauts hugged and shook hands as they floated together in space for a final time on a mission that saw the long-awaited addition of Europe's first permanent space lab to the station.
Atlantis, which launched on Feb. 7 and arrived at the station two days later, is scheduled to undock early on Monday and land on Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The U.S. military is waiting for it to get back so it can try to shoot down a failed spy satellite loaded with toxic rocket fuel before it tumbles to Earth.
U.S. astronaut Dan Tani, who will return home aboard Atlantis after a four-month stay on the station, paid tribute to the international cooperation on the station and choked up as he remembered his mother, who died while he was in space.
Tani, 47, noted that he worked with astronauts from France, Germany, Italy and Russia during his stay.
"Nations that had not always been friendly are now cooperating and we're doing great things," he said.
"The other thing I was thinking about today was my mother... my inspiration," Tani said, fighting back tears.
Rose Tani, 90, died in a December car accident near Chicago.
French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who traveled aboard Atlantis, will remain on the station in Tani's place to oversee operations in Columbus, the European lab.
The $1.9 billion Columbus was ferried to the station on Atlantis and attached on Feb. 11. Its delivery had been put off for years by problems including the 2003 accident of space shuttle Columbia.
The next shuttle flight, set for a March 11 launch, will bring up the first part of a huge Japanese laboratory complex called Kibo.
The U.S. military plans to fire a ship-based missile at the bus-sized spy satellite, which failed shortly after launch in 2006 and is expected to plunge to Earth early in March, hoping to time its breakup so the debris falls into the ocean, not on populated areas.
It also wants to minimize the amount of debris the satellite shot would leave in space because of the danger it poses to orbiting spacecraft.
NASA and the military say the space station, which orbits more than 200 miles (320 km) above Earth, should not be in danger from any spy satellite debris.
(Additional reporting by Irene Klotz in Cape Canaveral; editing by Alan Elsner)
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