NASA UPDATES: NASA’s Atlantis shuttle successfully launched

NASA successfully launched the space shuttle Atlantis on Monday hours of daylight with the aim of delivering key spare parts in order to extend the life of the International Space Station and also to get back one of the scientists there, as this mission will also be the return trip for Nicole Stott to Earth.

This critical STS-129 mission is been commanded by Charles O. Hobaugh and piloted by Barry E. Wilmore. The Mission Specialists are Robert L. Satcher Jr., Mike Foreman, Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin. However it is the first space trip for Barry E. Wilmore, Robert L Satcher and Randy Bresnik.

The shuttle lifted off as per the schedule, at 2:28 p.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral.

“You will see this theme in some of the flights that are going to come after ours as well,” added Brian Smith, the lead space station flight director for the 11-day mission. “This flight is all about spares. Basically, we are getting them up there while we still can.”

The spare parts carried by this shuttle are for systems that keep the station from ovrheating or tumbling through space, according to NASA. “We are taking the big ones,” Brian Smith said. “And not only are they the big ones — they are the ones deemed most critical. That’s why they are going up first.”