Launch Window
The November 2009 launch window of Atlantis, between November 16 and November 20, was complicated by the launch of the Mini-Russian Research Module 2 (MRM-2) aboard a Soyuz-U rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Further conflict was caused by Eastern Range constraints with two other satellite launches from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, one at the beginning of the shuttle's launch window and the other at the end. The Eastern Range had been reserved on November 14 and 15, 2009, for the launch of the communications satellite Intelsat 14 aboard an Atlas-V rocket. A Delta-IV rocket carrying a Wideband Global SATCOM satellite was also expected to lift off on November 19, 2009.
On November 10, 2009, MRM-2 was successfully launched, docking with the ISS on the 12th, while on the same day the Delta-IV rocket team announced that they had delayed their launch to a future date, allowing the shuttle to gain additional launch opportunities at the end of the window if it required. Atlas V's launch with the Intelsat 14 was scrubbed on the 14th due to a technical issue requiring a rollback. The scrub, lasting more than 24 hours, meant that Atlantis also avoided a possible postponement of its launch slipping into November 17, 2009.
Read more about this topic: STS-129
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