VIDEO: Atlantis lands at KSC this morning

VIDEO: Atlantis returns home to KSC today.

Atlantis Returns Home to America's Spaceport

The space shuttle Atlantis left earth orbit and dropped through cold blue Florida skies this morning following an eleven day resupply flight to the International Space Station.

In one of the best weather days along America's Space Coast for a shuttle landing, Atlantis was given the "Go" for her return at 8:14 am EST based on light winds and no cloud cover in the region.

Commander Charles Hobaugh and pilot Barry E. Wilmore donned their entry suits and took their seats two hours before landing to maneuver the spacecraft to a precise window for leaving orbit for their trip home. The seven member crew also includes Randy Bresnik, Leland Melvin, Michael Foreman, Robert Satcher and Nicole Stott.

Atlantis' twin engines began firing for about 3 minutes at 8:37 am to slow the orbiter down by 211 mph, and begin her free fall descent to the Kennedy Space Center.


"You couldn't have picked a clearer day", Hobaugh radioed to Houston's Mission Control as he observed the runway in sight (above).

Flying without power at a speed of 224 mph, Atlantis' main gear slammed onto runway 33 here at America's Spaceport at 9:44:23 am EST, concluding a successful resupply mission to earth's orbital outpost in space. Her wheels came to a stop 42 seconds later.

The STS-129 mission elapsed time at wheels stop was set at T+10 days, 19 hours, 16 minutes and 55 seconds -- one of the shortest shuttle flight's in recent history.

Atlantis' 31st flight covered 4,490,138 miles since her November 16 launch.

For crew member Stott, she returns home following 91 days in space -- 86 spent living aboard the space station as a flight engineer of Expedition 21.

For mission specialist Bresnik, this flight mark several joyous marks -- both in space and back home near Houston. Bresnik made a couple of spacewalks earlier this week, and at the same time, his wife gave birth last Saturday night to a daughter. He received word of the birth announcement following one of his spacewalks.

Atlantis spent seven days docked to the station as her crew resupplied both the inside with fresh food, experiments and supplies; and performed three spacewalks to install new equipment and spare parts on the outside of the outpost.

NASA's 129th space shuttle flight marked the 31st flight to the space station.

Today's landing now means that there is only one flight left for NASA's fourth space shuttle orbiter. Atlantis final mission into space is set for this May on a resupply flight to the station. Atlantis first flew twenty-four years ago on a military DoD flight, STS-51-J.

There are also only five more space shuttle flights left. The next mission is currently planned for February 4th on a flight to deliver the Tranquility module to the station.

Atlantis nears a Blue Sky Florida Landing Today

The seven member crew of the space shuttle Atlantis are in their final hours of flight as they finish preparations for the ship's return to a Florida landing this morning.

Commander Charles Hobaugh and pilot Barry E. Wilmore will don their orange entry suits first at 7AM EST and begin to maneuver Atlantis to the proper alignment for her deorbit burn.

The burn is planned for 8:37 am and will slow Atlantis down by about 350 mph to begin her drop out of earth orbit.

Landing of the 129th space shuttle flight is set for 9:44 am on runway 33 here at the Kennedy Space Center's shuttle landing facility.

Today marks six of the crew members 12th day in space, however it's a special homecoming for the seventh member of the crew -- Nicole Stott.

Stott has spent three months living and working aboard the International Space Station since arriving on an August shuttle flight. Total today, Stott will have spent 91 days in space. She is due to return to the space station this September aboard the last planned space shuttle flight.

Atlantis will close her payload bay doors around 6:10 am, and the crew will also take in fluids to help condition their bodies for the dynamics of reentry and landing back in a 1G environment.

Atlantis' crew enjoys Thanksgiving in Space

On their final full day in space, the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis is spending a busy Thanksgiving Day in space today as they prepare for landing day on Friday morning.

The seven member crew of the 31st flight of Atlantis is only the seventh space shuttle flight to orbit the earth during the traditional holiday of thanks.

"As we orbit the Earth every 90 minutes, we would like to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving", Atlantis' commander Charles Hobaugh stated in a message to Americans this morning. The entire crew then gave a "Happy Thanksgiving" cheer.


Earlier this morning, Mission Control near Houston, Texas included in their technical messages the above instructions to the crew of how to prepare a turkey. The instructions were delivered in the same tech jargon as they would discuss how a spacecraft should maneuver. (Click the image for a larger view.)

Aboard the International Space Station, several crew members of the Expedition 21 crew will have turkey, stuffing, green bean and candy yams to celebrate the holiday. Station commander Jeffery Williams is the only American of the now five crew members.

Atlantis will spend today packing and stowing equipment for Friday's return home to the Kennedy Space Center. Hobaugh and pilot Barry Wilmore will test fire select thrusters on the ship as well as power-up and test the elevon, rudders and body flap.

Beginning at 9:13 am, Atlantis' crew will give three Thanksgiving television interviews, including a Tampa Bay station which is the home of returning station astronaut Nicole Stott who has spent some 90 days in space.

Atlantis undocked from the space station yesterday and are returning 2,100 pounds of cargo to earth stored on the middeck of the orbiter.

Touchdown is planned for 9:44 am EST tomorrow on Runway 33 here at Kennedy. NASA's 129th space shuttle flight will perform a deorbit burn at 8:36 am, which will slow the ship down by around 300 mph to begin it's drop out of orbit.

A second landing opportunity at KSC could occur if weather did not corporate for the first opp with a touchdown at 11:19 am. Weather is expected to be great for the first opportunity.

SpaceLaunchNews.com will carry the landing LIVE, as we carry each mission Live from prelaunch to post-landing. Follow us via Twitter: @spacelaunchnews.

Atlantis Departs newly resupplied Space Station

The space shuttle Atlantis separated from the International Space Station this morning following one week of docked operations to resupply and add new equipment to the huge complex.

Atlantis' pilot Barry Wilmore gave a control stick on the aft flight deck a slight nudge and the orbiter undocked from the station at 4:53 am EST this morning as the two crafts flew 216 miles above the area north of New Guinea.

Atlantis spent six days, 17 hours docked with earth's orbital outpost, as the crew performed three spacewalks to install new equipment such as a 1,200-pound oxygen tank; and unloaded 37,000 pounds of food, clothes and fuel to resupply the station. Atlantis is also bringing home a load of garbage from station to clear room for the new equipment. The shuttle also gave the station a much needed altitude boost and attitude change.

Commanded by veteran astronaut Charles Hobaugh, Atlantis' crew includes Wilmore, Leland Melvin, Michael Foreman, Robert Satcher and Brandy BResnik. Atlantis is also bringing home space station flight engineer Nicole Stott who spent 87 days aboard the outpost.

Atlantis' STS-129 mission to the space station was the 31st by a space shuttle, and the 31st flight by Atlantis.

Atlantis is scheduled to land back at the Kennedy Space Center at the start of her 172nd orbit of the flight at 9:44 am EST, on Friday, Nov. 27th.

NASA officially targets Nov. 16 for Atlantis launch

NASA and the space shuttle management team are meeting today to determine a new launch date for the next space shuttle flight, and the teams readiness to support its twelve day flight.

This morning, the NASA management team officially targeted Monday, November 16th as the new launch date for Atlantis to start it's resupply and equipment delivery mission to the International Space Station.

Launch time is currently set for 2:27:54 pm EST. The launch window is five minutes.

NASA worked out a deal with the United Launch Alliance to push back a Delta IV unmanned rocket from it's targeted launch date of Nov. 17th by a day to allow Atlantis an optional day in case the target date is scrubbed for 24 hours.

Later today, technicians here at the Kennedy Space Center will begin retracting the huge gantry structure which wraps and protects the orbiter from weather (above, today at 9:15 am), and allows workers access to the mid section of the space shuttle.

The rotating service structure will be moved back to allow for the STS-129 payload to arrive at the pad this evening and be installed for launch.

Atlantis' launch delayed due to Ares 1-X, Atlas

A series of events in the final days of October has forced NASA to delay November's launch of the next space shuttle flight as it accommodates two unmanned rocket launches from Cape Canaveral.

According to NASA spokesperson Kyle Herring at the Johnson Space Center, "Ares is priority". Herring today broke down with this reporter most of what the next few weeks will look like at Cape Canaveral.

The main cause in delaying shuttle Atlantis Nov. 12 mission to the International Space Station is Tuesday morning's roll out of the Ares 1-X out to launch pad 39-B. Due to the Ares move, NASA today scrubbed the the next two days of training sessions by the crew out at the adjacent pad 39-A. Atlantis' crew will return to the Space Coast in early November to perform the practice countdown simulation in which they suit up and board the shuttle.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V has the eastern test range for a midnight launch on November 14th. NASA had spent the last two weeks battling for a Nov. 12 & 13 launch attempts, but Atlas' launch customer held firm and would not stand down to NASA.

Launch of Atlantis has been retargeted for 2:28 pm EST on November 16th. However, that date will not be made official until a managers meeting on Oct. 28. Also, a Delta IV is on the range to launch on the evening of Nov. 18. If Delta IV launches on time, then NASA will have only one launch day in which to fly Atlantis -- Nov. 20 -- before a sun angle beta cutout for Station forces a delay until Dec. 6.

Commanded by Charles Hobaugh, Atlantis' crew of six includes pilot Barry E. Wilmore and mission specialists Robert L. Satcher, Mike Foreman, Randy BResnik and Leland Melvin.

Space shuttle Atlantis departs for Launch Pad

NASA and launch teams here at the Kennedy Space Center are spending today moving the space shuttle Atlantis out to her ocean side launch pad in preparation for her journey into space next month.

Riding a top Mobile Launcher Platform #3, Atlantis departed the massive Vehicle Assembly Building to begin her 3.4 mile trip out to launch pad 39-A at 6:38 am EDT this morning -- a bit later than planned due to light rain.

The MLP moves at a top speed of 1 mph with a space shuttle stack a top it as it rolls along it's own private road made up of multiple layers of bedrock and stone. At all times the MLP has to keep it's top surface level, thus when it approaches an incline, it will raise either end to match a level area.

At 8AM, the MLP stopped for five minutes due to an area of concern which turned out to be nothing.

Atlantis is scheduled to depart KSC bound for the International Space Station on November 12 on a resupply flight.

Next Space Shuttle Mission prepares for Launch

The next space shuttle mission is stepping up preparations for launch with it's journey out to her seaside launch pad this week with lift-off only one month away.

Space shuttle Atlantis was moved over to the massive Vehicle Assembly Building last Tuesday to be hoisted up and connected to her rust colored external tank. However, as the yellow brackets attached to the mid-body sections of the orbiter raised it into a vertical position, the crane moving Atlantis stopped working forcing a delay in the mating operation.

The following day, the crane was back at work (above) moving Atlantis into the vertical position above the external tank and rocket boosters attached to the mobile launcher platform. It then slowly lowered the orbiter down for the hard mate connections at the tank umbilicals.

Rollout of the STS-129 space shuttle stack atop the mobile platform from the VAB is set for Wednesday morning at just after midnight EDT.

Once the MLP arrives at launch pad 39-A here at the Kennedy Space Center, hoses and power cords will be connected and the launch team will get the space shuttle prepared for its planned launch on November 12th at 4:04 pm EDT.

Five days later, Atlantis crew of six will arrive on the Space Coast to begin three days of training which will wrap up with a practice launch countdown. Known as TCDT or terminal countdown demonstration test, the STS-129 crew will don their orange partial pressure suits and depart for the launch pad to board Atlantis just as they will do on launch day.

Atlantis - commanded by Charlie Hobaugh and piloted by Barry Wilmore - will make the 34th space shuttle flight to the International Space Station next month. Mission specialists Robert Satcher, Michael Foreman, Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin round out the crew.

Atlantis moved for mating to tank & boosters

The space shuttle Atlantis was rolled from the orbiter processing facility to the massive vehicle assembly building early this morning, for mating to her external tank and rocket boosters prior to the twip out to the launch pad.

Atlantis is scheduled to launch no earlier than November 12 at 4:04 pm EST, to begin a 14 day mission to resupply the International Space Station and deliver two equipment storage pallets. The two express logistics carriers will be mounted on the exterior of the station.

STS-129 Atlantis Banner at KSC is Signed

The STS-129 space shuttle Atlantis banner was signed today by the technicians, managers and engineers here at the Kennedy Space Center. The banner will hang on the Mobile Launcher Platform when the stack rolls out to launch pad 39-A & and will hang at the pad up until just before launch.

We will post rollout images of Atlantis as it heads to 39-A in mid-October. Images: Jen Scheer