11/26/09: STS-129 crew prepares for Atlantis' return home.
Mission Control Center Status Report #20
1 a.m. CST Thursday, Nov. 26, 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 seven-member crew of Atlantis is packing the orbiter and preparing to return home, wrapping up the 31st shuttle flight to the International Space Station.

Commander Charlie Hobaugh, Pilot Barry Wilmore and Mission Specialists Randy Bresnik, Mike Foreman, Leland Melvin, Robert Satcher Jr. and Nicole Stott were awakened at 12:28 a.m. with the song “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra. It was played for Stott.

Cabin stowage will start at 3:48 a.m.

Hobaugh and Wilmore, with help from Bresnik, will check out the flight control surfaces, including the rudder and the wing flaps at 4:48 a.m. Those surfaces will guide Atlantis’ unpowered flight through the atmosphere to a landing. Immediately afterwards, at 5:58 a.m., the astronauts will test fire reaction control system thrusters. The thrusters will control the shuttle’s orientation as it descends and begins its re-entry through the atmosphere.

All seven crew members will take a break at 8:13 a.m. to talk with news media representatives. During the 20 minute chat they’ll take questions from ABC Radio, WTVT-TV in Tampa and KCBS in Los Angeles.

After setup on the mid-deck of a recumbent seat for Nicole Stott, returning after 90 days in space, 80 as a station crewmember, and stowage of the shuttle’s Ku-band antenna, the crew is scheduled to go to bed at 4:28 p.m. They’ll be awakened at 12:28 a.m. Friday for their scheduled Kennedy Space Center landing. The first opportunity would have Atlantis touching down at 8:44 a.m. Friday.

The next shuttle status report will be issued at the end of the crew day, or earlier if events warrant.



Nov 25: The forward section of space shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 21 crew member on the International Space Station soon after the shuttle and station began their post-undocking relative separation. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 3:53 a.m. (CST) on Nov. 25, 2009. Credit: NASA

- courtesy of NASA

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