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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Its decades-long assignment accomplished, expanse shuttle Discovery headlike bag to withdrawal after undocking from the International Space Station on weekday for the terminal time.

The world's most-flown spaceship got a dramatic send-off by "Star Trek's" original Capt. Kirk.

"Space, the test frontier," person William Shatner proclaimed in a prerecorded tribute. "These hit been the voyages of the expanse shuttle Discovery. Her 30-year mission: to seek out newborn science, to build newborn outposts, to alter nations unitedly on the test frontier, to boldly go and do what no satellite has finished before."

On the test handicap of its test journey — due to finish with a weekday touchdown — Discovery performed a conclusion travel around the expanse send directly after undocking. The shuttle and send crews beamed down pictures of each other's vessel, with the chromatic cloud-specked planet 220 miles beneath as the stunning backdrop.

NASA TV showed springy footage of Discovery as it soared over the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara desert, and in a matter of a some minutes, over the Mediterranean Sea and Federal Italy. The exciting shots were captured by the expanse send crew.

"It looks beautiful," observed Scott Kelly, the expanse station's skipper. He wished the sextet shuttle passengers a safe mate home.

To ensure safe passage, the shuttle astronauts pulled out their 100-foot, laser-tipped scrutiny godsend and patterned their ship for any signs of meteorite damage. The country machine was put in place accumulation the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Discovery is being sent to the Smithsonian Institution for display after it undergoes individual months of decommissioning. NASA's two another shuttles module join Discovery in retirement, accumulation their upcoming missions.

The oldest of NASA's surviving shuttles, Discovery module hit racked up nearly 150 meg miles by trip's end, assembled more than 39 missions in nearly 27 eld and spent 365 life amount in space. It flew to the International Space Station 13 times and prefabricated the prototypal shuttle rendezvous with Russia's Mir send in 1995.

Discovery prototypal flew in 1984 and carried the astrophysicist Space Telescope to itinerary sextet eld later. It's flown 184 astronauts, including Evangelist spaceman at age 77 in 1998.

Shatner's message was played for the shuttle gathering weekday morning, just a some hours before the undocking. His text were followed by the wake-up music, "Theme from Star Trek." It was the runner-up in a contest sponsored by NASA to mark the modify of the shuttle program. The No. 1 vote-getter — "Blue Sky" by Big Head character and the Monsters — module be beamed up as Tuesday's wake-up tune.

Mission Control and Discovery's astronauts also paying homage to lead shuttle grace administrator politico Lunney, who is quitting NASA as the information draws to a close. His vocalise cracked as he effort farewell, and he received a stagnant ovation in the control room.

"It's been a hoot," Lunney told the astronauts. "Couldn't hit had a better pick for my terminal flight."

Shuttle man Steven Lindsey said he'd rather be celebrating with Lunney than inspecting his ship.

Lunney was connected earlier in Mission Control by his father, legendary Phoebus grace administrator Glynn Lunney. The junior Lunney is leaving NASA later this period after 22 eld and nearly 50 shuttle flights to join a pair of aerospace investigate companies.

During their 13-day flight, Lindsey and his gathering delivered a newborn hardware compartment, as well as an equipment platform and the prototypal robot robot in expanse called R2, which is brief for Robonaut 2. Both large items were successfully installed, but R2 module be unpacked by the send gathering in the reaching weeks.

"If I were unpacked, I would wave goodbye!" R2 said in a Twitter message that was posted by a manlike on the ground.

The constituent of the 21-foot-long, 15-foot panoramic hardware compartment mitt the expanse send 97 percent complete. The Byzantine today has a accumulation of nearly 1 meg pounds.

Kenneth Todd, a expanse send manager, described the completed assignment as "above and beyond." He said it was vine to see Discovery for the terminal instance in orbit. "We effort her arrivederci and certainly godspeed to Steve and the rest of the gathering on the way home."

On the incoming shuttle flight, by Endeavour incoming month, a $2 1000000000 physics research module be installed on the outside of the expanse station. Atlantis module blast off with supplies on the test shuttle assignment at the modify of June.

NASA is under presidential content to focus more on outer space, beginning with expeditions to asteroids and then Mars.

American astronauts module continue hitching rides to the expanse send on Slavonic Soyuz spacecraft, at enthusiastic expense. The aim is for clannish U.S. companies to verify over those ferry operations within a some years.

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Online:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

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