The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis said their goodbyes Monday as the last shuttle prepared to leave the International Space Station (ISS), dpa reported. It is the last time a shuttle will be connected to the orbiting laboratory, which was constructed largely on the back of the 30-year-old shuttle fleet. NASA will retire the shuttles after Atlantis returns home. Before leaving the ISS, the shuttle astronauts hugged their US, Russian and Japanese colleagues on the ISS crew. Shuttle commander Chris Ferguson gave the ISS crew a space shuttle model signed by many of those who have worked on the programme. Thanking the ground crews who made the shuttle flight possible, Ferguson saluted the "tens of thousands who rose to orbit with us if only in spirit." The Atlantis also left behind a small American flag that had also flown on the first shuttle mission in 1981. The flag will be displayed in the portion of the station where shuttles have docked until a US-flown spacecraft again arrives at the ISS. NASA then hopes to fly the same flag aboard a spacecraft venturing out of low-Earth orbit to an asteroid or the moon. US astronaut Ron Garan, who is living aboard the ISS with five other astronauts, called the closing of the hatch the "closing of a chapter in the history of our nation." The shuttle will undock from the station early Tuesday before flying around the ISS one last time and beginning its journey home.
