Mission Management Team (MMT) meeting, Space Shuttle launch integration manager Michael Moses announced that the MMT gave the official "go" for Atlantis'''s launch on Monday, and Hobaugh and Wilmore practiced landings in the Shuttle Training Aircraft. On the evening at about 5.30 pm the Rotating Service Structure that protects the shuttle from adverse weather conditions was rolled back anticipating next day's launch. The MMT again met at 04:30 EST on November 16, 2009, and gave a "go" to begin loading shuttle Atlantis' external tank. The tanking began at 05:03 EST and was completed at 08:00 EST. The final unanimous "go" for launch directive from the mission management team, mission control and the launch team came during the countdown clock holding at T-9 minutes. The initial launch day weather forecast called for a 90% chance of favorable launch conditions. As the launch preparations continued, due to lower cloud cover ceilings it was changed to 70% and at liftoff to 80%. Mission timeline November 16 (Flight Day 1 – Launch) Atlantis launched on time at 14:28 EDT (19:28:10 UTC), with launch commentator George Diller's words upon launch being "liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis, on a mission to build, re-supply and to do research on the International Space Station". Powered flight conformed to the standard timeline (see Space Shuttle – Mission Profile – Launch), with main engine cutoff (MECO) occurring at eight minutes and 24 seconds Mission Elapsed Time (MET) and the external tank separating from the shuttle at eight minutes and 38 seconds MET into the flight. A further boost from the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines was not required due to the nominal MECO and Atlantis settled into its planned preliminary orbit. A subsequent NC-1 engine firing adjusted the orbital path of the shuttle to the ISS, by altering the shuttle's velocity, resulting in a new orbit of 147 by 118 statute miles. At the post-launch news conference, NASA officials reported that three foam events were seen in the external fuel tank (ET) video camera footage. They further quoted that the events weren't a concern since the foam loss events occurred after the aerodynamic sensitive time period. Later in the day, based on a quick-look review of the launch video, crew communicator (CAPCOM) astronaut Christopher Ferguson also informed the shuttle crew that there were no ascent debris events of concern. Flight day 1 on-orbit operations included, opening of both payload bay