STS-129


STS-129 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Atlantis was launched on November 16, 2009, at 14:28 EST, and landed at 09:44 EST on November 27, 2009, on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. It was also the last Shuttle mission of the first decade of the 2000s.
STS-129 focused on staging spare components outside the station. The 11-day flight included three spacewalks. The payload bay carried two large ExPRESS Logistics Carriers holding two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly, a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm, a spare trailing umbilical system for the Mobile Transporter, and a high-pressure gas tank. STS-129 was the first flight of an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier. The completion of this mission left six Space Shuttle flights remaining until the end of the Space Shuttle program, after STS-135 was approved in February 2011.

Crew

Crew seat assignments

Mission payload

ExPRESS Logistics Carriers 1 and 2

The primary payload of STS-129 was the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier and the ELC-2. Each steel framework has a mass capacity of, with a volume of 30 m³. The Goddard Space Flight Center served as the overall integrator for ELC-1 and ELC-2, with the addition of components manufactured by the Brazilian Space Agency.
The spare hardware stored on ELC-1 includes an Ammonia Tank Assembly, a Battery Charger Discharge Unit, a station
robotic arm Latching End Effector, a Control Moment Gyroscope, a Nitrogen Tank Assembly, a Pump Module, a Plasma Contactor Unit and two empty Passive Flight Releasable Attachment Mechanisms.
ELC-2 was launched with an oxygen-filled High Pressure Gas Tank, a Cargo Transport Container, a Mobile Transporter Trailing Umbilical System Reel Assembly, a Control Moment Gyroscope, a Nitrogen Tank Assembly, a Pump Module, MISSE attach hardware and one empty site for future payloads.
ELC-1 was installed on the Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Attachment System #2 on the P3 segment of the main truss. ELC-2 was installed on the Upper Outboard Payload Attach System on the S3 of the main truss.

Materials on International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) carrier

ELC2 also carried MISSE-7, an experiment that will expose a variety of materials and coatings being considered for future spacecraft to the extreme conditions outside the space station. The materials are being evaluated for the effects of atomic oxygen, ultraviolet, direct sunlight, radiation, and extremes of heat and cold. The experimental findings will benefit better understanding, development and to test new materials suitable to better withstand the rigors of space environments with applications in the design of future spacecraft.
MISSE-7 is composed of two suitcase-sized Passive Experiment Containers, identified as MISSE 7A and MISSE 7B. Once installed in the exterior of ISS by space walking astronauts, the PECs are opened. The orientation of MISSE 7A will be space facing/Earth facing while MISSE 7B will face forward/backward relative to the ISS orbit. Both MISSE 7A and MISSE 7B contain active and passive experiments. Passive experiments are designed for pre- and post-flight evaluation in ground-based laboratories.

S-band Antenna Sub-Assembly (SASA) package

Atlantis delivered a repaired S-band Antenna Sub-Assembly to the ISS which was returned to Earth during the STS-120 mission in October 2007. SASA is a space station antenna assembly consisting of
  • Assembly Contingency Radio Frequency Group
  • SASA Boom
  • Avionics Wire Harness
Major functions of the ACRFG are to transmit/receive radio signals to/from the transponder, amplification of signals to a power level necessary to be acquired by a Tracking Data and Relay Satellite and to broadcast/receive signals through the selected antenna.
The SASA boom assembly consists of a mast, an extra-vehicular activity handle, a harness, a connector panel, a mounting surface for the RFG and a baseplate fitting. The fitting will serve as the structural interface for mounting the SASA to the Zenith 1 truss on the ISS.
The Avionics Wire Harness installed on the SASA Boom provides operational and heater power to the RFG. Another function of the harness is to send command/status/RF signals to and from RFG.
SASA package was attached to the sidewall inside the payload bay of Atlantis during the ascent to the ISS. It was transferred from the payload bay to the Zenith 1 truss for installation as a spare by spacewalkers Foreman and Satcher performing EVA 1 on November 19.

SpaceX COTS UHF Communication Unit and Crew Command Panel

In a middeck stowage locker, Atlantis carried the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Ultra High Frequency Communication Unit developed by Space Exploration Technologies in collaboration with NASA to the ISS. It will be integrated on the space station in preparation for future SpaceX flights to the orbiting complex. The unit allows for communication between ISS and SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft via a UHF radio. Commands from SpaceX can be forwarded through ISS to CUCU and on to Dragon. Similarly, telemetry from Dragon and CUCU can be forwarded down through ISS for monitoring by SpaceX and NASA ground-based mission control. The Crew Command Panel provides feedback about the state of the Dragon vehicle to astronauts aboard ISS. It additionally provides some simple commanding capability to the astronauts to be used during the Dragon approach to ISS.

Other items

Astronaut Randolph Bresnik carried a scarf worn by the noted American aviation pioneer and author Amelia Earhart. The scarf had been on display at the Ninety-Nines Museum of Women Pilots in Oklahoma City. Bresnik's grandfather, Albert Louis Bresnik, was the personal photographer for Earhart from 1932 until July 2, 1937—the date of her disappearance. After being returned to Earth, the scarf would be placed in a new display at the Museum dedicated to the astronaut's grandfather's photographs.
In addition, the official opening toss-coin for Super Bowl XLIV as well as a football with all of the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees written on it and various other NFL-related, space-flown memorabilia were flown on STS-129.

Mission experiments

The crew of Atlantis worked with several short-term experiments during their mission. Atlantis also transported new long-term experiments to the space station. At the end of the mission, the shuttle will return some of the completed experiments from the ISS.
Short-term experiments included:
  1. Shuttle Exhaust Ion Turbulence Experiments – The crew of Atlantis carried out the SEITE burn on Flight Day 11. SEITE uses instrumentation on The Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System satellite for in situ observations of density and electric field disturbances caused by the shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System engine exhaust plume. The scope of the research is to enhance the surveillance of space, real-time characterization, detection and tracking and timely surveillance of high interest objects.
  2. Shuttle Ionospheric Modification with Pulsed Localized Exhaust Experiments – The crew carried out the SIMPLEX burn on Flight Day 11. The experiment investigates plasma turbulence driven by shuttle exhaust in the ionosphere using ground-based radars. The processes by which chemical releases can produce plasma turbulence are quantified with the SIMPLEX measurements. Plasma turbulence can affect military navigation and communications using radio systems. They can also be used to promote communications by opening radio channels at abnormally high frequencies.
New experiments delivered to the space station included:
  1. Microbe experiment – An experiment developed by Texas Southern University students in Houston that aims to study how microbes grow under weightless conditions in space. Students at TSU, Center for Bionanotechnology and Environmental Research will share experimental data with K-12 students nationwide. Visit https://web.archive.org/web/20091204135023/http://www.tsu.edu/pages/3611.asp to obtain additional information on the experiment named "URC Microbial 1"or to download fact sheet use
  2. Butterflies in Space Program – The shuttle carried a suitcase sized payload holding larvae of painted lady butterflies and monarch butterflies to the space station. Researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder expect to compare the space caterpillars with butterfly larvae raised on Earth by students from 100 U.S. elementary and middle schools.
  3. Advanced Plant Experiments on orbit – This joint Canadian Space Agency/NASA project aims to help determine the role gravity plays in the formation of reaction wood in trees. APEX-Cambium will also carry out a second experiment to detect the effects of stressors in space on gene expression in higher plants.
  4. Atlantis transported thousands of the microscopic Caenorhabditis elegans worms that have been sent from the University of Nottingham, UK to the ISS. The worms are expected to suffer similar muscle loss to humans and will be stored inside the Kibo laboratory. They will be used to study the effect of zero gravity on the human body's muscle development and physiology. Several potential treatments for muscle loss will be tested on the creatures and the research findings will pave the way for treatments to be safely tested on astronauts.
For a comprehensive list of all STS-129 experiments and more information, see footnote

Mission background and milestones

The mission marked:
  • 160th NASA crewed space flight
  • 129th shuttle mission since STS-1
  • 31st flight of Atlantis
  • 31st shuttle mission to the ISS
  • 5th shuttle flight in 2009
  • 104th post-Challenger mission
  • 16th post-Columbia mission
The STS-129 mission marked NASA's fifth NASA Tweetup, and its first such event ever held during a Shuttle launch at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. One hundred members of the general public, representing Morocco, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and 21 U.S. states, in addition to the District of Columbia, attended the two-day event and, for a time, the #nasatweetup hashtag reached #3 on Twitter's trending topics.