11/23/09: Bresnik and Satcher prepare for today's final STS-129 spacewalk.
Mission Control Center Status Report #14
2 a.m. CST Monday, Nov. 23, 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.

The combined 12-member crew of Atlantis and the International Space Station will move the last of this mission’s spare hardware during the third and final spacewalk today.

Mission Specialists Randy Bresnik and Robert Satcher Jr. are scheduled to begin their six hour spacewalk at 6:18 a.m. Final preparations for the spacewalk will begin at 3:13 a.m.

The crew’s wakeup call came today at 1:28 a.m. The wakeup song, “Space Rise” by Larry Whitehair, was played for Mission Specialist Mike Foreman.

Bresnik and Satcher will transfer an oxygen filled High Pressure Gas Tank (HPGT) from the EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 2, or ELC2, located on the starboard truss, to a spot on the outside of the Quest Airlock. The tank will be used to replenish atmosphere lost when spacewalkers enter and exit the station.

While Satcher is relocating the HPGT, Bresnik will install the seventh Materials International Space Station Experiment, or MISSE 7. This is the most advanced of the MISSE payloads to date, and will be the first to receive power directly from the station and use the station’s communication system to send commands and downlink real-time data.

Mission Specialist Mike Foreman will be the intravehicular officer. Mission Specialist Leland Melvin and Pilot Barry Wilmore will drive the robotic arm.

This spacewalk has been re-planned to include several tasks that were scheduled for future missions, including removing some debris shields from the Quest airlock.

The next shuttle status report will be issued at the end of the crew’s workday or earlier if events warrant. The crew is due to go to sleep just before 5 p.m.



Nov 21: Astronaut Randy Bresnik, STS-129 mission specialist, performs a task near the European Space Agency's Columbus module, on the International Space Station during the second STS-129 space walk. During the six-hour, eight-minute spacewalk, Bresnik and astronaut Mike Foreman (out of frame), mission specialist, installed a Grappling Adaptor to On-Orbit Railing Assembly, or GATOR, on the Columbus laboratory. GATOR contains a ship-tracking antenna system and a HAM radio antenna. They relocated a floating potential measurement unit that gauges electric charges that build up on the station, deployed a Payload Attach System on the space-facing side of the Starboard 3 truss segment and installed a wireless video system that allows spacewalkers to transmit video to the station and relay it to Earth. Credit: NASA

- 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.