1 00:00:00,580 --> 00:00:07,570 \h Music 2 00:00:07,570 --> 00:00:11,610 \h Space shuttle Atlantis pierced a bright-blue Florida sky over 3 00:00:11,610 --> 00:00:17,680 \h NASA's Kennedy Space Center for an on-time launch on Nov. 16, 2009, 4 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:22,170 \h beginning the fifth and final shuttle mission of the year. 5 00:00:22,170 --> 00:00:25,640 \h The liftoff also was the 31st shuttle mission to the 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:31,210 \h International Space Station and Atlantis’ 31st flight overall. 7 00:00:31,210 --> 00:00:34,850 \h Atlantis, with six crew members aboard, played catch-up 8 00:00:34,850 --> 00:00:38,630 \h with the orbiting laboratory during the first two flight days 9 00:00:38,630 --> 00:00:43,090 \h as the crew conducted the shuttle's exterior inspection. 10 00:00:43,090 --> 00:00:48,130 \h On Nov. 18, Commander Charlie Hobaugh carefully guided the shuttle 11 00:00:48,130 --> 00:00:52,700 \h toward a successful docking to the space station's Harmony module 12 00:00:52,700 --> 00:00:57,890 \h as the two orbited 225 miles above Earth. 13 00:00:57,890 --> 00:01:02,110 \h The arrival brought together a combined crew of 12 as the hatches 14 00:01:02,110 --> 00:01:05,410 \h between the two spacecraft were opened. 15 00:01:05,410 --> 00:01:08,880 \h The shuttle carried 14 tons of supplies and spare parts 16 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:13,540 \h for the station's electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, communications 17 00:01:13,540 --> 00:01:15,980 \h and robotics systems. 18 00:01:15,980 --> 00:01:21,320 \h In addition, station Flight Engineer Nicole Stott would catch a ride back 19 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:26,430 \h to Earth after 91 days in space becoming the last station crew member 20 00:01:26,430 --> 00:01:28,460 \h to ride aboard a shuttle. 21 00:01:28,460 --> 00:01:32,430 \h The heart of the mission's work was accomplished in three spacewalks 22 00:01:32,430 --> 00:01:35,610 \h during the seven days of docked operations. 23 00:01:35,610 --> 00:01:39,630 \h First up were spacewalkers Mike Foreman and Bobby Satcher, 24 00:01:39,630 --> 00:01:43,000 \h with Barry Wilmore and Leland Melvin supporting them 25 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,400 \h with the station's robotic arm. 26 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:50,390 \h During their six-hour, 37-minute spacewalk, the duo completed 27 00:01:50,390 --> 00:01:55,180 \h a number of tasks, including antenna installation and lubrication 28 00:01:55,180 --> 00:01:57,600 \h of the Japanese robotic arm. 29 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,090 \h The second spacewalk of the mission teamed Foreman with 30 00:02:01,090 --> 00:02:02,940 \h Randy Bresnik. 31 00:02:02,940 --> 00:02:07,390 \h The six-hour, eight-minute outing included not only scheduled tasks 32 00:02:07,390 --> 00:02:11,060 \h such as deployment of a spare parts payload attachment system 33 00:02:11,060 --> 00:02:15,590 \h on the upper part of the Starboard 3 Truss but some additional get-ahead 34 00:02:15,590 --> 00:02:17,480 \h work as well. 35 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:21,320 \h Bresnik and Satcher conducted the third and final spacewalk 36 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,770 \h in five hours and 42 minutes. 37 00:02:24,770 --> 00:02:30,740 \h The spacewalk's most lengthy task was the installation of a 6.2-foot-long, 38 00:02:30,740 --> 00:02:36,670 \h 1,240-pound high-pressure oxygen tank that Melvin and Wilmore 39 00:02:36,670 --> 00:02:39,980 \h maneuvered using the station’s robotic arm. 40 00:02:39,980 --> 00:02:45,270 \h After a final day of docked operations, the two spacecraft parted ways, 41 00:02:45,270 --> 00:02:49,490 \h and the Atlantis crew conducted a final inspection in preparation 42 00:02:49,490 --> 00:02:52,220 \h for the homecoming trip back to Earth. 43 00:02:52,220 --> 00:02:56,070 \h Once again, the Florida sun shined on the Atlantis astronauts 44 00:02:56,070 --> 00:03:00,900 \h as they bookended their mission with an on-time landing at Kennedy.