I have got to say, STS-129 went by so fast, so flawlessly, and so greatly. Several interesting things happened during the mission. And the crew was pretty funny too! And the most amazing thing is, there were no scrubs nor delays!!! Everything went right off on the first try!!!
The two guys in front holding helmets are Commander Charlie “Scorch” Hobaugh to the left, and pilot Barry “Butch” Wilmore to the right. The 4 on the back, from left to right, is Mission Specialist #1 Leland Melvin (Astro_Flow on Twitter), Mission Specialist #3 Mike Foreman, Mission Specialist #4 Dr. Robert “Bobby” Satcher, and Mission Specialise #2 Randy “Komrade” Bresnik.
Here’s the full launch. Remember that it takes 8 minutes and 29 seconds from SRB ignition (T-0 seconds) for it to reach initial orbit and main engine cutoff. Once again, this is the first launch attempt, and they DID launch!
After MECO, the crew went to work, and after setting up the shuttle for on-orbit operations, went to sleep. On flight day 2, they begun some rendezvous burns to start catching up to the ISS, and in the meantime, checked out the Thermal Protection System with the OBSS. On flight day 3, they catched up to the ISS and performed their routine RPM, or rendezvous pitch maneuver. I found this video which sped up the RPM for our benefit (the backflip alone takes 9 whole minutes), and cuts to docking (after the RPM, the shuttle then travels forward and pitches up, getting in front of the station, its payload bay and docking port looking AT the station. That’s when docking starts).
(For those ppl not yet fully familiarized with the english (french?) vernacular, “rendezvous” is to meet, to catch up with someone or something. It’s used in NASA to point out that vehicle 1 is catching up to vehicle 2, and the point where the two finally meet is the rendezvous point. English pronunciation would be like “run, day, voo” all together. Spanish is like “rondeivu”.)
(for those people that seriously asked me what is vernacular… http://www.answers.com/topic/vernacular)
After 2 hours of leak checks to see if the docking system had a good airtight seal, hatches were opened and the crews greeted themselves like long lost friends.
After that, all 3 spacewalks and transfers went by like it was meant to be done perfectly. I won’t bore you with the details, but, MAN!
And the whole thing was done with the STS-129 crew cracking jokes at every possible moment, ever since launch day, up until landing. I laughed my head off several times. I was like, OMG he did not just say that during <extremely serious maneuver/procedure/etc>!!! :P
The only issue was an alarm going off in the ISS. Apparently it was a false alarm. And there was a problem with one of the spacewalkers’ drinking tube (they have a small tube close to their lips that they bite and suck fresh water from it while they’re outside of the station and in their spacesuits. remember they can be out there for 5 to 8 hours. one does get hungry and thirsty, but at least the thirsty part can be covered) which did delay them an hour. But in all 3 spacewalks, they were HOURS ahead of schedule!!! (which kinda negated that delay). They got a heck of a lot of get-ahead tasks. I think they even did something a future space shuttle crew had to do later on! Talk about efficiency!!! And for Satcher and Bresnik, it was their first spacewalk. Could have fooled me!!!
Randy Bresnik was supervising another launch of sorts from the ISS: his baby daughter Abigail Mae Bresnik was due to be born around the timeframe where he would be at the ISS. NASA went to great lengths to get private conferencing between him and his wife while he was up there. After the event, Bresnik thanked NASA for helping him with that, and a celebration was done in the ISS’s Harmony node, with Bresnik handing out pink cigars to every crewmember of ISS-21 and STS-129, sporting a black tee with the pink words “it’s a girl!”, and proudly displaying a pink onezie with the STS-129 patch on it.
Also, an actual ISS change of command was made while a shuttle crew, the STS-129 crew, was there (a first for the program), and they stood (floated) witness to the ceremony. Frank De Winne of the European Space Agency (ESA), Commander of Expedition 21 and first ISS commander from the ESA, handed over control of the ISS to Jeff Williams of NASA, now Commander of Expedition 22. Frank, Roman Romanenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (RSA) and Bob Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will soon leave the ISS as 3 other crew members, Oleg Kotov (RSA), Souichi Noguchi (Japanese Space Agency, JAXA), and Timothy Creamer (NASA). Also, Jeff Williams awarded Nicole Stott her gold Astronaut Wings. Let me remind you that Nicole Stott is the last ISS crewmember to be rotated in a space shuttle. They did this before Atlantis left so they could close the expedition with Nicole present, as a closure for her. When she leaves, crew rotations will be the sole responsibility of RSA until further notice.
After that, the crews said their goodbyes, “transferred” the final piece of cargo known as Nicole Stott to Atlantis and the crews closed hatches. Nicole Stott now is about to be on her way home.
And the day after… Atlantis undocks fro the ISS and pilot Barry “Butch” Wilmore executes the flyaround around the ISS, a maneuver known in NASA jargon as TORF (Twice Orbital Rate Flyaround).
After that, Atlantis burned its OMS engines for a few seconds, initiating the separation of Atlantis and the ISS. The STS-129 crew then made a final inspection of their TPS before calling it a day.
The day after, the crew did several preparations and checkouts prior to reentry. All these checks were successful, so Atlantis was cleared for reentry. The day after, everything went by flawlessly. The final preparations. The deorbit burn (the first attempt to Kennedy was a go!). The entry interface, the roll/roll reversals, and finally… TAEM, as depicted in the video below.
Hobaugh: Couldn’t have picked a clearer day!
Twin sonic booms were heard at 3:48 in the video, signaling the arrival of Atlantis at Kennedy. Slightly low on the Heading Alignment Cylinder turn, but all in all a perfect landing.
Man, I loved this mission! :P It was all to carry a new antenna assembly and 2 external logistics carriers (massive things) to support continued operation of the ISS after the shuttle retires. And of course to bring Nicole Stott back home, where she can finally have her Coke in a Styrofoam cup and a slice of New York style pizza. :P And a nice hot shower where water will actually go DOWN. :P
Oh, didn’t you know? Astronauts take sponge baths. There are no showers in space. Which is especially why a long duration (2 to 6 month stay) ISS crew member considers a hot shower “A LUXURY”.
LOL.
Great mission, fellas!
