Atlantis in History: STS-129 Touchdown 1080P H264

With weather looking good at the Kennedy Space Center, and nothing standing in the way of landing, Flight Director Bryan Lunney gave the "go" signal to close the payload bay doors at 10:52 UTC. Mission Control also instructed the astronauts to begin "fluid loading" - a protocol that aids the astronauts' readjustment to gravity. The crew strapped into their seats at 12:37 UTC in preparation for a landing. NASA operators gave the "go" for the deorbit burn and at 13:37 UTC, flying upside down and backwards above the southern Indian Ocean just west of Indonesia, Atlantis fired its orbital maneuvering system (OMS) engines for 2 minutes and 47 seconds. The deorbit burn decelerated the orbiter by about 211 miles per hour, enough to lower its orbital perigee into the upper atmosphere. Atlantis encountered the first traces of Earth's atmosphere, known as "entry interface", at 14:12 UTC at an altitude of 399,000 feet flying over the Pacific Ocean. At 14:26 UTC, eighteen minutes before touchdown, the orbiter was travelling at Mach 22; nine minutes later the orbiter was "gliding" at Mach 6. The shuttles ground track took it along the east coast of Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula, across the Gulf of Mexico and cross the Florida coast south of Fort Myers.

Atlantis main landing gear wheels touched down at 09:44:23 a.m. EST (14:44:23 UTC) on Runway 33, followed by the nose wheel at 9:44:36 a.m. EST (14:44:36 UTC). The shuttles wheels stopped at 9:45:05 a.m. EST (14:45:05 UTC).[90] This was the 72nd space shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center. As the shuttle rolled to a halt, Commander Hobaugh announced "Houston, Atlantis, wheels stop". CAPCOM Christopher Ferguson replied the crew, "Roger, wheels stopped, Atlantis, that was a picture-perfect end to a top-fuel mission to the space station. Everybody, welcome back to Earth, especially you, Nicole."[91]

Atlantis had two opportunities to land on 27 November 2009, with two more on 28 November 2009 all targeting Kennedy Space Center. If the 27 November 2009 landing was waived off for some reason, the shuttle had consumables onboard to allow Atlantis to remain in space until 30 November 2009.[92]

After working through the checklists to safely power down the orbiter for about an hour, the crew got out of Atlantis and into the Crew Transport Vehicle. Exiting the vehicle without Stott, they performed the traditional walk-around of the shuttle and met with employees from NASA. Speaking briefly to the press following the walk-around, Commander Hobaugh said "We really had truly an amazing mission". He went to add, "We had no hitches. It was not us, it was not any single group, but it was just an incredible team from all around the nation".[93]

Post-landing Crew Conference was held later in the day. Five STS-129 astronauts attended the conference. Mission Specialists, Randolph Bresnik and Nicole Stott were absent. Bresnik had flown home right away aboard a NASA training jet to be with his wife and new baby daughter. Stott was to take up standard medical checkups after her 91 days in space aboard the International Space Station.

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