Happy Thanksgiving and Atlantis to Return Tomorrow!

Yesterday's inspections of Atlantis' wing leading edges and nose cap have cleared the heatshield for re-entry. The astronauts are working through a busy Thanksgiving in space testing the shuttle's re-entry systems and packing up for landing tomorrow Kennedy Space Center.

View the STS-129 crew's Thanksgiving greeting from space!

Thermal Protection System (TPS) cleared for reentry!

The review of all the imagery was completed last night! There were 4 areas of interest for Atlantis, but all have been declared acceptable for entry. We're assembling our charts that will be presented to the Orbiter Project Office!

Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver complete!

....and now we wait for the photos to be downlinked to us by the astronauts!

Atlantis to begin Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver (RPM) soon

We will begin to get imagery downlinked from the International Space Station (ISS) soon. Atlantis will perform the rendezvous pitch maneuver (RPM) in about 25 minutes!!

Atlantis launches!!!!!

Liftoff of Space Shuttle Atlantis occurred yesterday at 2:28 p.m. It was a perfect launch and the weather definitely played in our favor. I leave for Houston today to assist in the review of the imagery that will be downlinked from the ISS of Atlantis. Tomorrow morning we will begin to get the imagery and start inspecting for any critical damages.

I have had a pretty crazy couple of weeks! I've been visiting various schools for a talk on the thermal protection system and I took a major exam yesterday on the combustion course I am taking. After taking that exam, I'm am just a lot more relieved and have a tiny bit more time for myself. :)

Well....off to do my last minute packing so I can catch my flight this morning!!! More updates to come during my week at Johnson Space Center.