11/26/09: STS-129 crew celebrates Thanksgiving, prepares for landing.
Mission Control Center Status Report #21
Noon 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.

Atlantis crew members spent part of Thanksgiving Day preparing for their scheduled Friday landing.

The shuttle and its seven-astronaut crew, Commander Charles Hobaugh, Pilot Barry Wilmore and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Randy Bresnik, Mike Foreman, Robert Satcher Jr. and Nicole Stott also had a Thanksgiving meal and talked with media representatives.

Hobaugh, Wilmore and Melvin tested Atlantis’ flight control system, the flaps and rudders that will guide it through the atmosphere, and test fired the thruster jets that control its orientation in space and during early re-entry.

All crew members spent time stowing items in the shuttle’s cabin in preparation for the return to Earth. Landing is scheduled for 8:44 a.m. CST at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

They all gathered for a deorbit briefing a little after 6 a.m., just before their midday meal.

The Thanksgiving dinner aboard Atlantis was more traditional than expected. The International Space Station Expedition 21 crew members, Commander Jeffrey Williams, and Flight Engineers Maxim Suraev, Roman Romanenko, Robert Thirsk and Frank De Winne, had smoked turkey, green beans, mushrooms, cornbread dressing and candied yams available for their Thanksgiving. Apparently some of that fare found its way to the shuttle before the Wednesday undocking.

At about 8:15 a.m. Atlantis crew members talked with media representatives from ABC Radio, WTVT-TV in Tampa and KCBS-TV in Los Angeles.

The next shuttle status report will be issued after crew wakeup, or earlier if events warrant.



Nov 25: Seen over the Mediterranean Sea, near the Algerian coast, the 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

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

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

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