STS-129 HD Launch

Space shuttle Atlantis and its six-member crew began an 11-day delivery flight to the International Space Station on Monday with a 2:28 p.m. EST launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle will transport spare hardware to the outpost and return a station crew member who spent more than two months in space.

Atlantis is carrying about 30,000 pounds of replacement parts for systems that provide power to the station, keep it from overheating, and maintain a proper orientation in space. The large equipment can best be transported using the shuttle's unique capabilities.
Tra0:04
a minute 30 seconds
0:19
sound suppression water system now being
0:21
armed for release confirmation we have
0:23
three main engines ready for ignition
0:34
one minute
0:40
space shuttle now on internal power
0:48
liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fill
0:50
and drain valves are closed
0:55
solid rocket booster flight data
0:57
recorders are activated
1:03
and the handoff to atlantis's onboard
1:06
computers
1:07
atlantis now in control of the countdown
1:18
firing chain is armed
1:21
sound suppression water system activated
1:24
t-minus ten nine eight
1:26
seven
1:27
six
1:28
five
1:30
three
1:31
two
1:33
one
1:34
zero and liftoff of space shuttle
1:37
atlantis on a mission to build resupply
1:40
and to do research on the international
1:43
space station
1:45
houston now controlling atlantis begins
1:47
its penultimate journey to shore off the
1:49
international space station
1:52
atlantis now on the proper alignment for
1:54
its eight and a half minute ride to
1:55
orbit four and a half million pounds of
1:57
hardware and humans taking aim on the
1:59
international outpost
2:04
30 seconds into the flight
2:06
atlanta's almost two miles in altitude
2:08
almost six miles downrange from the
2:10
kennedy space center already traveling
2:12
500 miles an hour
2:16
the three liquid fuel main engines now
2:18
throttling back to 72 percent of rated
2:20
performance going into the bucket
2:21
reducing the stress on the shuttle as it
2:23
breaks through the sound barrier
2:29
55 seconds into the flight all systems
2:31
operating normally 900 miles an hour the
2:34
speed of atlantis right now six miles in
2:36
altitude nine miles downrange
2:38
atlantis go with throttle up
2:42
copy go
2:43
up the throttle up call acknowledged by
2:45
commander charlie hobaugh joined on the
2:47
flight deck by pilot butch wilmore
2:49
flight engineer randy bresnik and leland
2:51
melvin seated down on the mid deck are
2:52
mike foreman and bobby satcher kicking
2:55
off their work week with a monday
2:56
commute to orbit
3:00
one minute 30 seconds into the flight
3:02
atlanta's 13 miles in altitude 15 miles
3:05
downrange traveling almost 2 000 miles
3:07
an hour
3:13
three good auxiliary power units three
3:15
good fuel cells three good main engines
3:24
one minute 50 seconds into the flight
3:27
10 seconds away from solid rocket
3:29
booster separation
3:44
booster officer confirms staging a good
3:46
solid rocket booster separation guidance
3:48
now converging atlanta steering into the
3:50
center lane of highway 129 on route to
3:52
the international space station
3:54
two minutes 20 seconds into the flight
3:56
34 miles in altitude 48 miles downrange
3:59
atlantis traveling 3 200 miles an hour
4:15
the propulsion officer in mission
4:16
control reports that the orbital
4:17
maneuvering system engines have ignited
4:19
atlantis kicking on the afterburners
4:26
atlantis flying on the singular power of
4:28
its three liquid fuel main engines
4:29
draining about a half a ton of fuel per
4:31
second from the large fuel tank
4:34
coming up on the three-minute mark into
4:35
the flight atlanta's 46 miles in
4:37
altitude 81 miles downrange traveling
4:40
almost 4 000 miles an hour
4:43
atlanta's speeding straight is an arrow
4:45
torted state with the international
4:46
space station wednesday morning
5:05
three and a half minutes into the flight
5:07
all of atlantis systems functioning by
5:09
the book
5:10
55 miles in altitude 120 miles downrange
5:13
traveling almost 5 000 miles an hour
5:32
atlantis negative return
5:39
atlanta's now too far downrange too high
5:41
in altitude to return to the launch site
5:43
in the event of an engine failure all
5:45
three engines performing perfectly
5:52
four minutes 20 seconds into the flight
5:54
atlantis now 62 miles in altitude 180
5:57
miles downrange traveling almost 6 000
5:59
miles an hour all systems perfor
6:02
performing
6:03
normally atlantis
6:05
on course on track
6:06
for its preliminary orbit
6:10
the environmental systems officer
6:11
reports a good flash evaporator system
6:13
activated for atlantis providing cooling
6:15
for the shuttle's avionics until the
6:17
payload bay doors are open about an hour
6:19
and a half into the flight
6:44
atlantis press to ato
6:50
that call up from capcom chris ferguson
6:52
indicating that atlantis can now make
6:54
minimal orbital altitude targets in the
6:57
event of an engine failure however all
6:58
three engines continue to perform
7:00
normally as do the auxiliary power units
7:02
and the three power producing fuel cells
7:05
five and a half minutes into the flight
7:08
atlantis now 67 miles in altitude 312
7:11
miles downrange traveling almost 8 000
7:13
miles an hour
7:16
thanks for single engine ops 3.
7:30
atlantis now beginning to roll to a
7:32
heads up position the main engine
7:34
swiveling enabling enabling the shuttle
7:36
to uh move to a heads-up position above
7:39
its fuel tank gaining more favorable
7:40
communications through the tracking and
7:42
data relay satellite system as it heads
7:44
up hill
7:49
atlantis prestamiko single-engine
7:51
zaragoza 104.
7:55
single engine
7:56
104. that call from capcom chris
7:58
ferguson to commander charlie hoba
8:00
indicating that atlantis can make normal
8:02
orbital cutoff targets in the event of
8:04
an engine failure
8:09
okay nominal shutdown
8:17
now six minutes 45 seconds into the
8:20
flight atlantis 66 miles in altitude
8:23
almost 500 miles downrange from the
8:25
kennedy space center traveling almost
8:26
eleven thousand miles an hour
8:30
ninety seconds left in powered flight
8:32
single engine press 104.
8:36
single engine
8:46
coming up on the seven and a half minute
8:47
mark into the flight the main engines
8:49
will once again be throttled down to
8:50
limit the stress on the shuttle and its
8:52
six crew members to that of three times
8:54
the effect of gravity atlantis
8:56
approaching a speed of more than four
8:57
miles a second
8:59
at the time of main engine cutoff a
9:00
minute from now atlantis will enter its
9:02
preliminary orbit at a speed of five
9:04
miles a second
9:12
seven minutes 40 seconds into the flight
9:16
atlantis providing
9:25
eight minutes ten seconds into the
9:27
flight
9:41
standing by for main engine cutoff
9:48
main engine cutoff confirmed by the
9:50
booster officer standing by for external
9:52
tank separation
10:08
and the bird's eye view from the
10:09
external tank camera of external tank
10:11
separation atlantis now in its
10:13
preliminary orbit
10:16
commander charlie hobaugh will now
10:18
maneuver atlantis so that cameras
10:19
embedded in the shuttle's umbilical well
10:21
can perform photography of the discarded
10:23
external fuel tank and mike foreman and
10:25
leland melvin are about to use digital
10:28
still and video cameras to capture
10:30
hand-held imagery of the tank for
10:31
downlink a few hours from now a flawless
10:34
climb to orbit for the shuttle atlantis
10:36
and its six crew members on route now to
10:38
the international space station
10:51
fergie will meet you in the post on
10:53
swamp
10:56
and we'll see you there scorch
11:27
hey fergie for uh tom
11:31
go ahead

nscript: