European cargo freighter undocks from space station

Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle backed away from the International Space Station on Monday, firing thrusters to vacate the outpost's safety bubble and begin positioning itself for a destructive re-entry Saturday. Filled with trash and liquid waste, the ATV undocked from the space station's Russian Zvezda service module at 0855 GMT (4:55 a.m. EDT) as the complex flew 260 miles over Kazakhstan. The spaceship's Russian docking system pushed the vehicles apart, then the ATV's rocket jets fired to accelerate its rate of departure, exiting the space station's "keep-out sphere" a few minutes after undocking. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 29)