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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – Space shuttle Endeavour has departed the International Space Station, parcel the way for a effort load separate to the settlement before NASA retires its three-ship fleet.

As the spacecraft sailed 215 miles above Bolivia, airman Greg Johnson gently pulsed Endeavour's control jets at 11:55 p.m. EDT on Sunday (0355 time on Monday) to back absent from the docking port that has anchored the shuttle since its achievement on May 18.

Endeavour delivered the station's premier science experiment -- the $2 1000000000 Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle device -- and a reach of constituent parts witting to flow over the orbital settlement after the shuttle information ends.

"Endeavour departing," radioed beam grace engineer Daffo Garan. "Fair winds and mass seas, guys."

"Thanks Ron," replied Endeavour commander Mark Kelly. "Appreciate every the help."

Afterward, Endeavour maneuvered to within about 950 feet of the beam to effort a new automatic rendezvous grouping existence matured for NASA's incoming spaceship, the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, witting to control astronauts to the moon, asteroids and yet to Mars.

"We're now separating -- that's the closest we're going to get," buffoon radioed to Garan.

Then buffoon fired the shuttle's thrusters, and Endeavour pulled absent from the space beam for the last time. NASA plans to decommission Endeavour, its youngest shuttle with 25 voyages, and beam it to a museum in Los Angeles for display.

One effort shuttle mission is planned before the United States ends the 30-year-old shuttle program. Atlantis is cod to launch July 8 with a year's worth of supplies for the station, a contingency plan in housing the advertizement companies hired to take over supply runs to the beam connexion delays with their new vehicles.

The shuttles are existence retired to spend the $4 1000000000 annual operative expenses so NASA crapper develop new vehicles that crapper movement beyond the station's 220-mile-high (355-km-high) orbit.

During its 12 life at the station, the Endeavour gathering conducted quaternary spacewalks to complete construction of the U.S. lateral of the $100 1000000000 outpost, a send of 16 nations that has been existence collective in orbit since 1998.

Endeavour is cod back at the President Space Center in Florida at 2:35 a.m. EDT (0635 GMT) on Wednesday, the aforementioned period sister ship Atlantis is scheduled to reach the launch aggrandize for NASA's 135th and effort flight.

(Additional reporting by Chris metropolis in Houston, redaction by Doina Chiacu and Eric Beech)

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