STS-129: Mission to the International Space Station

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:37:56 AM GMT+0530

STS-129 Mission Specialists Randy Bresnik and Robert Satcher Jr., set to perform the third and final spacewalk of the mission Monday, are spending the night in the Quest airlock as part of the overnight “campout” procedure that helps purge nitrogen from their bloodstreams, preventing decompression sickness once they move out into the vacuum of space.

The International Space Station crew began its sleep shift at 5:58 p.m. EST, and the shuttle crew headed to bed a half hour later. Both crews are set to wake up Monday at 2:28 a.m. The spacewalk is slated to begin at 7:18 a.m.

Space Shuttle Mission: STS-129



Image above: Mission Specialist Randy Bresnik (far left) and the STS-129 and Expedition 21 crews celebrate the birth of his daughter. Photo credit: NASA TV

› Meet the STS-129 Crew

Crew Prepares for Monday Spacewalk; Bresnik Announces New Daughter
Atlantis crew members got a well-earned half-day off Sunday, a day that began with some exciting news from Mission Specialist Randy Bresnik to Mission Control Houston.

Bresnik told the flight controllers his new daughter, Abigail Mae Bresnik, had been born at 11:04 p.m. CST Saturday. He said his wife Rebecca and new daughter, 6 pounds, 13 ounces and 20 inches long, were doing well. Bresnik got the news by private phone patch through mission control shortly after the crew was awakened.

› View video of announcement
› Read the Pre-flight Interview with Randy and Rebecca Bresnik

Preparations for Monday’s spacewalk, the third of three scheduled for Atlantis’ mission to the station, occupied some of the crew’s time. Shuttle crew members, Charles Hobaugh, Pilot Barry Wilmore and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Bresnik, Mike Foreman, Robert Satcher Jr. and Nicole Stott, as well as the station’s crew, Commander Frank De Winne and Flight Engineers Jeffrey Williams, Maxim Suraev, Roman Romanenko and Robert Thirsk, joined in an hour-long spacewalk procedures review just before bedtime.

Satcher and Bresnik prepared tools for their spacewalk, with help from Foreman, Monday’s intravehicular officer, who participated in the flight’s first two spacewalks. Satcher and Bresnik will spend the night in the Quest airlock.