Watch Atlantis Launch on STS-129 Mission Live; Updated with Video From Liftoff

STS-129 Crew Portrait

Live Feed provided by SpaceVidCast. I'll replace the video player with a recording as soon as it becomes available.

Watch other views of the launch that have been recorded by other people by scrolling down the page.


Commander Charles O. Hobaugh, Pilot Barry E. Wilmore, Mission Specialists Mike Foreman, Robert L. Satcher Jr., Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin are secured in their seats aboard shuttle Atlantis. Radio checks are continuing for the crew while the countdown clicks down on schedule for a liftoff at 2:28 p.m. EST.

The launch pad Closeout Crew will close the hatch, pressurize the crew cabin, check for leaks, and then finish up remaining work inside the pad's environmentally controlled White Room before leaving the area.

Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters reported to Launch Director Mike Leinbach that the launch forecast is "green," which means there are no weather constraints for liftoff this afternoon.


From Wikipedia:

STS-129 (ISS assembly flight ULF3)^[3] is a scheduled mission to the International Space Station(ISS) to be flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis. The launch date for the mission is targeted for November 16, 2009.^[4][5]

STS-129 will focus on staging spare components outside the station. The 11-day flight is scheduled to include at least three spacewalks. The payload bay will carry two large ExPRESSLogistics 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. This will be the first flight of an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier. The completion of this mission will leave five space shuttle flights remaining until the end of the program.^[6]

NASA is holding its first-ever live Shuttle launch tweetup with 100 members of the general public atKennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.^[7]

This is recorded from the Life Sciences Laboratory.


This was the view from the Banana Creek VIP viewing area.

Shot from the Titusville, FL Bridge. Sound is crappy, but...hey it's the shuttle seen from closer than I'll probably ever get to a launch!!!

This one also has sound issues and is the view from CCAFS (Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the beach.




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