Table of Contents

Mission STS-129

How is Canada involved?

Critical Science

APEX-Cambium will launch to the ISS. CSA Astronaut Bob Thirsk will perform Canada's first experiment to study tree growth in space (scheduled to begin on Flight Day 4). The experiment will continue into mid-December 2009.

Ongoing Canadian experiments on the ISS during this increment include: BCAT-5, BISE, CCISS, MEIS-2, SODI-IVIDIL, et RaDI-N.

Canadian Hardware

A spare Latching End Effector for Canadarm2 (in case it might be needed in the future).

An S-Band Antenna Support Assembly refurbished by MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) under contract with Boeing.

A collection container for blood samples to be used for a future Canadian science experiment known as VASCULAR. Led by the University of Waterloo and funded by CSA, VASCULAR will fly in December 2009 to study the impact of long-duration spaceflight on the blood vessels of astronauts.

Leading-edge Robotics

Canadarm2 will be used to hoist two payloads called the Express Logistics Carriers) from the Shuttle's payload bay and install them on the ISS.

During the first spacewalk of the mission, NASA Astronaut Robert Satcher will ride on the end of Canadarm2 to install the S-Band Antenna Support Assembly with US Astronaut Charles Hobaugh at the controls.

Satcher will also work hand-in-hand with Canadarm2 to install a high pressure gas tank on the ISS's airlock during the third spacewalk of the mission. Satcher will place the tank on the end of Canadarm2 for the arm to lift it to the airlock, where Satcher and his colleague, spacewalker Randolph Bresnik, will move it into place, where it will be used to pressurize and depressurize the airlock for spacewalks and to supplement the Station's atmosphere if needed.

The Shuttle's Canadarm will assist Canadarm2 in lifting the Express Logistics Carriers, and scan Atlantis using its inspection boom to ensure that the Shuttle is ship-shape after launch.

Canadian expertise

CSA Astronaut Bob Thirsk continues his long-term mission on the International Space Station until December 1, 2009.

Canadian flight controllers at Canadian Space Agency (CSA) headquarters in Saint-Hubert, Quebec, and at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, will monitor Canadarm2's operations throughout the mission. CSA mission planners have also worked for months to map out all of the robotic activities during the mission, including preparing computer simulations to visualize how the activities will take place. The astronauts who will operate Canadarm2 were also trained at CSA headquarters (as are all spacefarers who use the Canadian robotics on the ISS).

Science support staff will monitor APEX-Cambium from the CSA's Payload Telescience Operations Centre ("Mission Control" for Canadian space scientists) to guide astronauts performing the experiment.