Astronauts’ exit is emotional
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Shuttle Discovery’s astronauts bade a tearful farewell to the International Space Station crew, returned to their spaceship and sealed the hatch after a successful but trying 10-day mission.
The shuttle is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday.
The shuttle crew includes returning space station flight engineer Clayton Anderson, who was replaced by Daniel M. Tani.
The hatch’s closure was delayed by about an hour as the astronauts scrambled to load last-minute items that needed to be returned to Earth. The crews then gathered for a hasty farewell ceremony.
“We’re family now,” said Discovery’s teary-eyed commander Pamela A. Melroy.
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