11/17/09: STS-129 crew to photograph heat shield.
Mission Control Center Status Report #02
4:30 a.m. CST Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009, Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

Mission: STS-129

Orbiter: Atlantis

Launch Pad: 39A

Launch Date: NET Nov 16, 2009, 14:28:09 EST (19:28:09 UT)

Landing: Nov 27, 2009

Main gear touchdown: 09:44:23 EST

Nose gear touchdown: 09:44:36 EST

Wheels stop: 09:45:05 EST

Orbital Altitude: 122 nautical miles (140 miles)

Orbital Insertion: 191 nautical miles (220 miles)

Orbital Inclination: 51.6 degrees

Distance traveled: ~4.5 million miles

Crew:- Commander: Charles O. Hobaugh; Pilot: Barry E. Wilmore; Mission Specialists:- MS1 Leland D Melvin, MS2 Randolph Bresnik, MS3 Michael Foreman, MS4 Robert Satcher, MS5 (landing) Nicole Stott.
Primary Payload: ExPRESS (Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station) Logistics Carriers ELC1 and ELC2:-

ExPRESS Logistics Carrier-1 manifest:- Ammonia Tank Assembly; Battery Charge Discharge Unit; Space Station Remote Manipulator System Latching End Effector; Control Moment Gyro; Nitrogen Tank Assembly; Pump Module; Plasma Contactor Unit; two empty Passive Flight Releasable Attachment Mechanisms.

ExPRESS Logistics Carrier-2 manifest:- High Pressure Gas Tank; Cargo Transport Container 1 (CTC-1) mounted to a Small Adapter Plate Assembly; Mobile Transporter/Trailing Umbilical System; Control Moment Gyro; Nitrogen Tank Assembly; Pump Module; Utility Transfer Assembly (UTA) Flight Support Equipment (FSE); one empty Payload Passive Flight Releasable Attachment Mechanism.

With a picture-perfect launch day under their belts, Atlantis’ crew members will spend their first full day in space taking pictures of what they hope will be a perfect heat shield.

Today’s STS-129 wakeup call came at 3:28 a.m. in the form of MercyMe’s “I Can Only Imagine.” The song was played for Pilot Barry E. Wilmore, who will spend his day at the controls of the shuttle’s robotic arm. Wilmore, along with Commander Charles O. Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin and Randy Bresnik, will be using the 50-foot-long arm and its 50-foot-long orbiter boom sensor system to get an up close look at the tiles of Atlantis’ wing leading edges and nose cap.

The inspection will make use of a suite of cameras and lasers on the end of the boom and give experts on the ground 3-D views of the shuttle’s heat shield. Those photos, as well as others taken during various points in the mission, will be used to ensure that the shuttle did not sustain any damage during its launch on Monday.

This inspection will begin just before 7:15 a.m. and will take about five hours. While it is going on, the crew’s spacewalkers – Mike Foreman and Robert L. Satcher Jr., with help from Bresnik when he’s not working on the inspection – will perform a checkout of the two spacesuits to be worn on the first of the mission’s three spacewalks and prepare the suits for transfer to the International Space Station.

In preparation for docking with the station on Wednesday, the crew will also set up the centerline camera, extend the Orbiter Docking System ring and check out other equipment that will be used during the rendezvous.

Aboard the station, Expedition 21 Commander Frank De Winne and Flight Engineers Jeffrey Williams, Nicole Stott, Maxim Suraev, Roman Romanenko and Robert Thirsk will prepare for the shuttle’s arrival by reviewing photography procedures for their part in documenting the condition of the shuttle’s heat shield as it completes a rendezvous pitch maneuver during its approach to the station. Williams will also get a jump start on one of the STS-129 tasks, the preparation of the Harmony node for the arrival of the Tranquility node next year.

Atlantis’ crew will go to bed just before 7:30 p.m. The next shuttle status report will be issued at the end of the crew’s workday or earlier if events warrant.


Astronaut Charles O. Hobaugh (right), STS-129 commander, briefs his crew on the middeck of Space Shuttle Atlantis during flight day two activities. Pictured from the left are astronauts Mike Foreman, Robert L. Satcher Jr., both mission specialists; Barry E. Wilmore, pilot; and Leland Melvin, mission specialist. Not pictured is astronaut Randy Bresnik, mission specialist.

- courtesy of NASA

Space and Astronautics News is completely opposed to the use of any animals in science experiments, including in space missions.

Timezones:
EST = (UT - 5 hours)
EDT = (UT - 4 hours) = (CDT + 1 hour)
CST = (UT - 6 hours)
CDT = (EDT - 1 hour) = (UT - 5 hours)
PST = (UT - 8 hours)
PDT = (UT - 7 hours)
MDT = (UT - 6 hours)
UT [GMT] = (EDT + 4 hours)
BST = (EDT + 5 hours) or (CDT + 6 hours) = (UT + 1 hour)
CEST = (UT + 2 hours) = (BST + 1 hour)

EDT, CDT, PDT, MDT daylight saving time = EST, CST, PST, MST +1hr. From 2007, this begins on the second Sunday in March, and ends on the first Sunday in November.

[Until 2007, EDT, CDT, PDT, MDT used to start at 02:00 local time on the first Sunday in April. EST, CST, PST started at 02:00 local time on the last Sunday in October.]

UT is also known as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), Z, and UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). It is the time set on the International Space Station.

*Where '/' appears in dates, this site follows the following format: mm/dd/yr

Copyright © Space and Astronautics News 1999 - 2010 All Rights Reserved.