KSC-2009-6105

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Changeout Room on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, members of the STS-129 crew, dressed in clean-room attire known as "bunny suits," pause a moment during their payload familiarization training for a photo. From left are Mission Specialists Robert L. Satcher Jr. and Leland Melvin. The training affords the crew an opportunity to observe the placement of the Express Logistics Carriers 1 and 2 in space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay before launch. The six astronauts for space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-129 mission came to Kennedy to participate in their launch dress rehearsal, the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. Additional training associated with the test was done last month, but the simulated countdown was postponed because of a scheduling conflict with the launch of NASA’s Ares I-X test rocket. Launch of Atlantis on its STS-129 mission to the International Space Station is set for Nov. 16. On STS-129, the crew will deliver to the station two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly and a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm. For information on the STS-129 crew and mission objectives, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts129/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett