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11/25/09: Space Shuttle Atlantis undocks from the International Space Station.
Mission Control Center Status Report #19
3:15 p.m. CST Wednesday, Nov. 25, 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.
Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station at 3:53 a.m. CST Wednesday, ending a successful resupply visit that included three spacewalks. The total docked time was 6 days, 17 hours and 2 minutes.
Atlantis brought to the station about 14 tons of cargo in its payload bay, including two large carriers with heavy spare parts that were installed on the station. The shuttle also carried about a ton of cargo in its crew cabin. It is bringing home about the same weight of cabin cargo from the orbiting laboratory.
Atlantis Commander Charles Hobaugh, Pilot Barry Wilmore and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Randy Bresnik, Mike Foreman, Robert Satcher Jr. and Nicole Stott are scheduled to land at 8:44 a.m. Friday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
After undocking, Wilmore piloted the shuttle in a circle around the station at a distance of about 600 feet. Crew members shot photographs and video to document the orbiting laboratory’s condition.
A routine disposal overboard of waste water and urine collected aboard Atlantis was terminated early. It is not necessary to dump the now half-full collection tank before landing Friday. Flight controllers have a workaround available for the crew to bypass a suspected clogged filter and dump the liquid, if landing is delayed.
About 7:15 a.m. Wilmore and Melvin began grappling and unberthing the Orbital Boom Sensor System, the camera- and sensor-equipped extension of the shuttle’s robotic arm, for the standard late survey of the shuttle’s heat shield. With help from Bresnik, they inspected the reinforced carbon-carbon of the right wing leading edge, then the nose cap and the left wing leading edge. The task took more than five hours.
On the station, Expedition 21 Commander Jeffrey Williams and Flight Engineers Maxim Suraev, Roman Romanenko, Robert Thirsk and Frank De Winne resumed more regular activities. They also continued preparations for the Nov. 30 departure of De Winne, Romanenko and Thirsk in a Soyuz capsule.
The next shuttle status report will be issued after crew wakeup or earlier if events warrant.
Nov 25: The International Space Station photographed soon after the space shuttle Atlantis and the station began their post-undocking relative separation. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 3:53 a.m. (CST) on Nov. 25, 2009. Some scenes in the series show parts of the Mediterranean Sea and Africa and Spain in the background. Credit: NASA.
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.
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