During a post-landing press conference held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations said, "This has just been an amazing mission. On-time launch, on-time landing … just a phenomenal team effort across the board."
Gerstenmaier also gave special thanks to the production workers who prepared the hardware for this flight, especially those who have taken voluntary retirement and have been laid off as part of the staff reduction requirements.
"There’s still a lot of activity in front us … still a very busy time," continued Gerstenmaier. "The teams are focused — we’re moving forward and doing great things."
Shuttle Launch Integration Manager Mike Moses agreed that this was an incredibly smooth mission. "It’s great to have Atlantis back here at Kennedy," said Moses.
"We have a lot to do," Moses said regarding the remaining space shuttle flights. "We’ll need to be diligent and stay focused."
Mike Leinbach, NASA shuttle launch director, said, "The orbiter looks really good, and the crew is doing fine and they reported that Nicole Stott is doing fine as well, so good news there."
"Everything is going really, really well, the orbiter looks great. It’s fantastic to be a part of this team. I’m very, very proud of team Atlantis … and looking forward to her next mission."
NASA TV has scheduled the STS-129 crew news conference from Kennedy Space Center at about 3:30 p.m. EST.