After over one week together in orbit, U.S. space shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station on Monday morning, Xinhua reported.
According to NASA, the undocking took place at 7:00 a.m. EST (1200 GMT) while the spacecraft were 220 miles above the western Pacific, northeast of New Guinea.
Discovery spent eight days, 16 hours and 46 minutes attached to the orbiting laboratory.
At 7:29 a.m. EST (1229 GMT), Pilot Eric Boe will fly the shuttle one lap around the station to document its new configuration that includes the Permanent Multipurpose Module and External Logistics Carrier-4 that Discovery delivered. Shuttle crew members will take photos of the station during the fly around.
Discovery and its crew of astronauts are expected to land on Wednesday. It will be retired after this mission and sent to a museum.