CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. — Still on “a major high” from their successful solar-wing repair, the 10 astronauts aboard the linked shuttle Discovery and international space station cried as they hugged goodbye Sunday and closed the hatch between them.
Clayton Anderson, who is headed home after five months in orbit aboard Alpha, and Daniel Tani, who is starting a two-month mission, repeatedly wiped their eyes during the farewell ceremony, held a day before Discovery undocks for its return to Earth and its landing Wednesday.
Anderson was so choked up that he had to pause a few times. He played recordings of “Danny Boy” for Tani, whose wife is Irish, and Collective Soul’s “Reunion” with the refrain “I’m coming home” for his flight controllers, his family and himself.
