Space shuttle Discovery yesterday undocked from the International Space Station [1] and its crew will today use the vehicle's robotic arm to do a final check on the "thermal protection system" prior to a sheduled Saturday touch-down at Kennedy Space Center.

Shortly after departure, Discovery captured this snap of the ISS showing its full complement of solar arrays - now capable of delivering a total of 84 to 120 kilowatts of electricity to support a planned permanent crew of six aboard the orbital outpost.

All being well, Discovery will land at 13:44 EDT (17:44 GMT) at the end of its STS-119 [2] mission. On board are commander Lee Archambault, pilot Tony Antonelli, mission specialists Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold plus former ISS resident Sandy Magnus.

In Kazakhstan, meanwhile, Expedition 19's [3] Soyuz TMA-14 blasted off (see pic) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:49 GMT this morning, carrying commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineer Michael R. Barratt towards a six-month stint aboard the ISS.

Also along for the ride is space tourist Charles Simonyi, making his second trip [4] to the station. Simonyi will return to terra firma on 7 April with Expedition 18 [5] crew commander Mike Fincke and flight engineer Yury Lonchakov in the Soyuz TMA-13 capsule. The two astronauts launched to the ISS on 12 October last year. ®

Links

1. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
2. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts119/index.html
3. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition19/index.html
4. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/10/word_in_space/
5. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition18/index.html

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