NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mission: STS-129
Orbiter: Atlantis
Primary Payload:ELC 1 and 2, Control Moment Gyroscopes
Launched: Nov. 16
Launch Time: 2:28 p.m. EST
Launch Pad: 39A
Landing: Nov. 27 - 9:44 a.m. EST
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Mission Duration: 11 days
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

---

Atlantis Delivers Necessary Supplies to the ISS
Space shuttle Atlantis roared into a bright-blue sky from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:28 p.m. EST Nov. 16 for its destination -- the International Space Station.

Image above: With nearly 7 million pounds of thrust generated by twin solid rocket boosters and three main engines, space shuttle Atlantis roars into the blue skies over Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Tom Farrar and Tony Gray
› High-res Image

Secured inside the shuttle's payload bay were nearly 30,000 pounds of replacement parts and equipment that would keep the station supplied for several years to come.

Six STS-129 astronauts were aboard -- Commander Charles O. Hobaugh, Pilot Barry E. Wilmore, Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Mike Foreman, Robert L. Satcher Jr. and Randy Bresnik.

After a two-day chase, Atlantis docked with the station. Once the hatches between the two spacecraft were opened, Expedition 21 Flight Engineer Nicole Stott joined the STS-129 crew as mission specialist. Stott is the last NASA astronaut to be transported to or from the space station by a space shuttle. Also, while Bresnik was aboard the orbiting laboratory, his wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Earth.

Three demanding but successful spacewalks later, the Atlantis crew said their farewells to the station crew and began the two-day journey back home.

Image above: The drag chute unfurls to slow space shuttle Atlantis for landing on Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida completing the STS-129 mission. Photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph
› High-res Image

The crew spent their last full day in space preparing for landing and enjoying a surprise Thanksgiving dinner compliments of the Expedition 21 crew, packed aboard Atlantis before undocking.

Florida weather cooperated again and the Mission Control Center in Houston gave Atlantis the "go" for deorbit burn for the first landing opportunity.

Atlantis and its crew of seven made a picture-perfect touchdown on runway 33 at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility at 9:44 a.m. EST Nov. 27.

A remarkably complex supply mission was completed after traveling more than 4.5 million miles and almost 11 days in space.