National Aeronautics and Space Administration SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION STS-129 Stocking the Station www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov PRESS KIT/November 2009 CONTENTS Section Page STS-129/ULF-3 MISSION OVERVIEW .................................................................................... 1 STS-129 TIMELINE OVERVIEW ............................................................................................... 9 MISSION PROFILE ................................................................................................................... 11 MISSION OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 13 MISSION PERSONNEL ............................................................................................................. 15 STS-129 CREW ....................................................................................................................... 17 PAYLOAD OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 27 S-BAND ANTENNA SUPPORT ASSEMBLY (SASA) AND RADIO FREQUENCY GROUP (RFG) ..................... 29 EXPRESS LOGISTICS CARRIER 1 AND 2 ............................................................................................... 31 RENDEZVOUS & DOCKING ....................................................................................................... 47 UNDOCKING, SEPARATION, AND DEPARTURE ...................................................................................... 48 SPACEWALKS ......................................................................................................................... 51 EXPERIMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 59 DETAILED TEST OBJECTIVES AND DETAILED SUPPLEMENTARY OBJECTIVES ....................................... 59 EXPERIMENTS ..................................................................................................................................... 62 SHUTTLE REFERENCE DATA .................................................................................................... 71 LAUNCH AND LANDING ........................................................................................................... 89 LAUNCH ............................................................................................................................................... 89 ABORT-TO-ORBIT (ATO) ...................................................................................................................... 89 TRANSATLANTIC ABORT LANDING (TAL) ............................................................................................. 89 RETURN-TO-LAUNCH-SITE (RTLS) ....................................................................................................... 89 ABORT ONCE AROUND (AOA) ............................................................................................................... 89 LANDING ............................................................................................................................................. 89 NOVEMBER 2009 CONTENTS i Section Page ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................... 91 MEDIA ASSISTANCE ............................................................................................................... 105 PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACTS .................................................................................................. 107 ii CONTENTS NOVEMBER 2009 STS-129/ULF-3 MISSION OVERVIEW Backdropped by Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space, the International Space Station is seen from space shuttle Discovery as the two spacecraft begin their relative separation. There are no home improvement stores in For the STS-129 Utilization and Logistics space, so the next space shuttle mission to the Flight - 3 (ULF-3) mission, Atlantis will carry in International Space Station will deliver 14 tons its cargo bay two ExPRESS Logistics Carriers of important spare parts for its electrical, (ELC's), a new Materials on International Space plumbing, air conditioning, communications Station Experiment (MISSE) carrier and an and robotics systems. S-Band Antenna Sub-Assembly (SASA) package, plus additional equipment, supplies Atlantis, commanded by space veteran and scientific experiments that will be used by Charles O. Hobaugh, is scheduled to lift off the continuing crew of six aboard the station. from Kennedy Space Center at 2:28 p.m. EST, Nov. 16, on the third utilization and logistics While docked to the station, Atlantis’ crew will flight, and arrive at the station the afternoon of conduct three spacewalks to transfer the spare Nov. 18. parts from the shuttle’s payload bay to the station’s external structures and continue assembly activities. NOVEMBER 2009 MISSION OVERVIEW 1 Astronaut Charlie Hobaugh, STS-129 commander, attired in a training version of his shuttle launch and entry suit, occupies the commander’s station on the flight deck during in a Full Fuselage Trainer (FFT) mock-up training session in the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. At the end of the 11-day flight, Atlantis also Rounding out the crew are mission specialists will bring home Expedition 20 and 21 Flight Leland Melvin, 45, an 11th round draft pick for Engineer Nicole Stott, the final astronaut the NFL’s Detroit Lions who flew on STS-122 scheduled to use a space shuttle for a lift to or in 2008, and Mike Foreman, a retired Navy from the station. captain who flew on STS-123 in March 2008. Stott, a former Kennedy Space Center shuttle Hobaugh, who turns 48 the week before launch, processing director completing a 100-day served as pilot on STS-104 in 2001 and STS-118 mission aboard the station, will join the STS-129 in 2007. He’ll be joined at launch by pilot crew for the ride home to Earth. Barry E. Wilmore, a U.S. Navy captain, and mission specialists Randy Bresnik, a Aside from returning Stott and delivering U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel; and supplies for station crew, the main objective of Robert L. Satcher Jr., an orthopedic surgeon, all the STS-129 mission is to deliver, install and of whom will be making their first spaceflights. checkout two large logistics pallets and their 2 MISSION OVERVIEW NOVEMBER 2009 spare parts, and to prepare the station for the (PCU) and two empty Passive Flight Releasable arrival of the Tranquility module, the final Attachment Mechanisms (PFRAMs). U.S.-built component of the station, which will be delivered on the following flight in ExPRESS Logistics Carrier-2 will launch with February. This will be the first flight of a High Pressure Gas Tank (HPGT), a Cargo an ExPRESS (Expedite the Processing of Transport Container 1 (CTC-1) mounted to a Experiments to Space Station) Logistics Carrier. Small Adapter Plate Assembly (SAPA), a Mobile Transporter/Trailing Umbilical System ExPRESS Logistics Carrier-1 will launch with (MT/TUS), CMG, NTA, PM, Utility Transfer an Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA), a Battery Assembly (UTA) Flight Support Equipment Charge Discharge Unit (BCDU), a Space Station (FSE), one empty Payload PFRAM and Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) Latching MISSE-7, an experiment that will expose a End Effector (LEE), a Control Moment Gyro variety of materials being considered for future (CMG), a Nitrogen Tank Assembly (NTA), a spacecraft to the extreme conditions outside the Pump Module (PM), a Plasma Contactor Unit station. Astronaut Leland Melvin, STS-129 mission specialist, participates in a training session in an International Space Station mock-up/trainer in the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. NOVEMBER 2009 MISSION OVERVIEW 3 Several experiments that are considered provide imagery experts on the ground a pathfinders for U.S. National Laboratory close-up look at the areas that experience the investigations aboard the space station, also highest heating upon re-entry to the Earth’s will be flown. One of those is part of a atmosphere. A follow-up inspection will continuing investigation that is seeking a take place after Atlantis undocks from the vaccine that can be used against food station. poisoning. While the inspection takes place, Bresnik, The day after launch, Hobaugh, Wilmore, Foreman and Satcher will prepare the Melvin and Bresnik will take turns from spacesuits they will wear for the three Atlantis’ aft flight deck maneuvering its robotic spacewalks to be conducted out of the arm in the traditional day-long scan of the Quest airlock at the station. As Foreman and reinforced carbon-carbon on the leading edges Satcher prepare the spacesuits for transfer of the shuttle’s wings and its nose cap. This to the station, Bresnik will join the heat initial inspection, using a 50-foot-long crane shield inspection team. Other pre-docking extension equipped with sensors and lasers, preparations will occupy the remainder of the called the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, will crew’s workday. Astronaut Mike Foreman, STS-129 mission specialist, dons a training version of his Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit in preparation for a spacewalk training session in the waters of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Astronaut Charlie Hobaugh, commander, assists Foreman. 4 MISSION OVERVIEW NOVEMBER 2009 On the third day of the flight, Atlantis will be docking port on the Harmony module at flown by Hobaugh and Wilmore