NASA announces STS-129 details

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Nov. 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says blogs and tweets will be part of the upcoming launch of space shuttle Atlantis and its mission to the International Space Station.

The shuttle is to lift off Monday, Nov. 16, at 2:28 p.m. EST from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA said the STS-129 mission will be commanded by Charles Hobaugh and piloted by Barry Wilmore. Mission astronauts are Robert Satcher Jr., Mike Foreman, Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin. Wilmore, Satcher and Bresnik will be making their first trips into space.

Atlantis and its crew will deliver equipment to the International Space Station. The mission will feature three spacewalks and will return station crew member Nicole Stott to Earth, making STS-129 the final space shuttle crew rotation flight.

"A NASA blog will update the countdown beginning Nov. 16 at 9:30 a.m.," NASA said. "During the mission, visitors to NASA's shuttle Web site can read about the crew's progress and watch the mission's three spacewalks live. As Atlantis' flight concludes, the NASA blog will detail the spacecraft's return to Earth."

The blog is available at http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle.

Two STS-129 astronauts are tweeting about their pre-launch preparation and are expected to provide updates to their Twitter accounts during the mission, NASA said. Bobby Satcher, an orthopedic surgeon, can be followed at: http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Bones and http://www.twitter.com/ZeroG_MD. The latter account focuses on a discussion of medical issues for space exploration, officials said.

His crewmate, Leland Melvin, can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Flow.