Bad Astronomy

Shuttle undocks from ISS; on its way home Thursday

Atlantis undocked from the space station at 10:42 Eastern time this morning. The computers on the station appear to be functioning now (well, 4 out of 6; the other two will be replaced). The Shuttle crew has their first chance to land on Thursday afternoon at 1:54 p.m. Eastern time.

They are bringing home astronaut Sunita Williams, who now holds the record for longest duration in space by a woman: by the time she lands, it will have been 193 days or so depending on the exact time of touchdown. There has been no word on whether she was able to watch any Firefly episodes, however.