Managers are gathered at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida today for the agency’s Flight Readiness Review meeting for space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-129 mission to the International Space Station.
The group will thoroughly discuss how preparations are going for Atlantis’ 11-day mission and they are expected to set an official launch date. Currently, Atlantis is targeted to liftoff at 2:28 p.m. EST Nov. 16.
Following the meeting, there will be a news conference broadcast on NASA TV no earlier than 6 p.m. EDT.
At Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A, technicians are continuing to prepare Atlantis for flight and for the mission payload that is expected to be transported to the pad tomorrow. The rotating service structure, which acts as weather protection and provides access to a shuttle, is scheduled to be opened today. This will allow techs to upload Atlantis’ space station payload to the pad for installation into its cargo bay.
At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the six STS-129 astronauts are in the center’s fixed based simulator today conducting an orbital simulation run.