Teary Goodbye for Space Station Astronauts

Monday, Nov. 5, 2007 | 9:44 a.m.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Still on "a major high" from their successful solar wing repair, the 10 astronauts aboard the linked shuttle Discovery and international space station cried as they hugged goodbye Sunday and closed the door between them.

The most tears came from the two men who traded places on the space station: Clayton Anderson, who is headed home after five months in orbit, and Daniel Tani, who is starting a two-month mission.

They repeatedly wiped their eyes during the farewell ceremony, held a day before Discovery undocks for its return to Earth.

Anderson was so choked up that he had to pause a few times while talking. He played recordings of "Danny Boy" for Tani, whose wife is Irish, and Collective Soul's "Reunion" with the refrain "I'm coming home" for his flight controllers, his family and himself.

"As my time draws to a close here, I'm filled with a lot of different emotions and I have a lot of blood, sweat and tears that I've left on board the international space station. It's a very wonderful place," Anderson said.

The two commanders, the shuttle's Pamela Melroy and the station's Peggy Whitson, also were teary-eyed as they hugged one another.

Just before the hatches between the spacecraft closed, station flight director Derek Hassmann thanked the astronauts for their hard work, noting that the past four or five days were "a complete blur." That's how much time passed from the moment a solar energy panel on a newly installed beam ripped while being unfurled until it was fixed during an unprecedented spacewalk Saturday by astronaut Scott Parazynski.

"What a way to end the mission," Hassmann told the astronauts.

The shuttle's lead flight director, Rick LaBrode, said he was still amazed at what was accomplished Saturday.

"You can imagine that the crew and the ground teams are really on a major high," he said. "It was definitely really something special."

Melroy promised Tani - who rode up with her on the shuttle - that she would send somebody to pick him up. Then she and her six crewmates floated into Discovery for the final time, leaving the station's three residents behind.

The astronauts were awakened shortly after 2 a.m. EDT Monday by the song "Roll Me Away," by Bob Seeger. The shuttle was orbiting 223 miles above New Zealand as the astronauts prepared for undocking activities.

"That's a great song about a road trip and we've had a great one, but it's time to turn around and head for home," astronaut George Zamka said.

After pulling away Monday morning, the shuttle will fly a full lap around the station, primarily for picture-taking. Engineers are particularly interested in seeing how the newly mended solar wing is affected by the vibrations of undocking.

Discovery's 15-day mission will end with a Wednesday touchdown.

The shuttle dropped off nearly 34,000 pounds of gear at the space station, most notably a pressurized compartment the size of a school bus that will serve as a docking port for future laboratories. Whitson and her crew will move the compartment, named Harmony, to its permanent location next week.

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