The space shuttle Atlantis has leaved the International Space Station on Monday at 4:24 a.m. EST today, after the crew has spent almost-nine-day stay at the orbital outpost.

During this period, the Atlantis crew has performed three spacewalks to install and prepare the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Columbus laboratory.

The astronauts also replaced an expended nitrogen tank on the station’s P1 truss.

Atlantis also transported ESA astronaut Leopold Eyharts to the station to take the place of Daniel Tani as Expedition 16 flight engineer. Tani is returning to Earth aboard the shuttle.

In August 1998, Leopold Eyharts, a medical researcher and engineer from France's National Center of Space Studies, was assigned by the European Space Agency to train at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

As part of the international astronauts of the 1998 class, he attended Astronaut Candidate Training which included orientation briefings and tours, numerous scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training and ground school to prepare for T-38 flight training, as well as learning water and wilderness survival techniques.

Initially assigned to the Astronaut Office Space Station Operations Branch. Leopold Eyharts' assignments include serving as a flight engineer to the Expedition-12 and Expedition-13 back-up crews.

Eyharts will stay aboard the station until March, getting the newly installed European-made Columbus laboratory up to speed.

Atlantis is scheduled to land on Wednesday at Cape Canaveral, Fla., or the backup touchdown site in California.

In March, NASA will launch the mission STS-123 on space shuttle Endeavour, which will deliver the first pressurized section, Japanese Experiment Logistics Module (ELM-PS), of the future Kibo (Hope) Japanese module.

The Japanese Experiment Logistics Module, Pressurized Section it will contain critical avionics and serve as a storage area for experiment materials. At 14.4 feet in diameter and 12.8 feet in length, it is the smaller of two pressurized Japanese modules.

On Monday Endeavour will begin its 3.4-mile journey to Launch Pad 39A that will take about six-and-a-half hours.

The mission STS-123 astronauts will be at Kennedy February 23-25 for the terminal countdown demonstration test, which is a full launch dress rehearsal to prepare for a targeted March 11 liftoff.

Endeavour's crew includes Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory Johnson and Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan, Robert Behnken, Mike Foreman and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's, Takao Doi.

After getting the JAXA module installed, the crew’s attention will turn to the Canadian Space Agency’s newest contribution to the station, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. Dubbed Dextre by a Canada-wide naming contest, the robot, with its two small robotic arms, will attach to the station’s robotic arm, Candarm2, and allow astronauts to replace hardware outside the station without doing a spacewalk.

Endeavour is launching with the expectation of staying in space for 16 days, and there are always extra days set aside in case weather or a technical problem delays landing.