Shuttle leaves space station to begin trip home

Space shuttle Endeavour has departed the International Space Station, clearing the way for a final cargo run to the outpost before NASA retires its three-ship fleet. As the spacecraft sailed 215 miles above Bolivia, pilot Greg Johnson gently pulsed Endeavour's steering jets at 11:55 p.m. EDT on Sunday (0355 GMT on Monday) to back away from the docking port that has anchored the shuttle since its arrival on May 18. Endeavour delivered the station's premier science experiment -- the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle detector -- and a pallet of spare parts intended to tide over the orbital outpost after the shuttle program ends. More

(Source: Reuters - May 31)