CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - After nightfall on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, xenon lights reveal space shuttle Atlantis awaiting launch on its mobile launcher platform. Liftoff of the STS-129 mission is set for 2:28 p.m. EST Nov. 16. The pad's rotating service structure, at left, which provides weather protection and access for technicians to work on the shuttle, began being retracted at 5:20 p.m. EST and was in the park position by 5:56 p.m. On STS-129, the crew will deliver to the International Space Station two Express Logistics Carriers, the largest of the shuttle's cargo carriers, containing 15 spare pieces of equipment including two gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly and a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm. Atlantis will return to Earth a station crew member, Nicole Stott, who has spent more than two months aboard the orbiting laboratory. STS-129 is slated to be the final space shuttle Expedition crew rotation flight. For information on the STS-129 mission and crew, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts129/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - After nightfall on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, xenon lights reveal space shuttle Atlantis awaiting launch on its mobile launcher platform. Liftoff of the STS-129 mission is set for 2:28 p.m. EST Nov. 16. The pad's rotating service structure, at left, which provides weather protection and access for technicians to work on the shuttle, began being retracted at 5:20 p.m. EST and was in the park position by 5:56 p.m. On STS-129, the crew will deliver to the International Space Station two Express Logistics Carriers, the largest of the shuttle's cargo carriers, containing 15 spare pieces of equipment including two gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly and a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm. Atlantis will return to Earth a station crew member, Nicole Stott, who has spent more than two months aboard the orbiting laboratory. STS-129 is slated to be the final space shuttle Expedition crew rotation flight. For information on the STS-129 mission and crew, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts129/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

STS-32 Columbia, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 102, its external tank (ET), and solid rocket boosters (SRBs) rise above the mobile launcher platform and begin to clear fixed service structure (FSS) tower (with rotating service structure (RSS) retracted) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Launch Complex (LC) Pad 39A. Liftoff occurred at 7:34:59:98 am Eastern Standard Time (EST) some 24 hours after dubious weather at the return-to-landing site (RTLS) had cancelled a scheduled launch. An exhaust cloud covers the launch pad. The firing SRBs and space shuttle main engines (SSMEs) are reflected in a nearby waterway. OV-102's launch is highlighted against the early morning darkness.