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| Image above: In the Vehicle Assembly Building at
NASA's Kennedy Space Center, technicians are inspecting the sanding
performed on Atlantis' external tank nose cone to repair hail damage
caused by a late February storm. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller |
After Friday's rollout review meeting, NASA officials announced that
repairs on the external tank on Space Shuttle Atlantis have been completed.
The vehicle is scheduled to roll out to the launch pad on Wednesday,
May 16 with first motion at 4 a.m. EDT.
"The teams have done a phenomenal job of repairing this tank,"
said Bill Gerstenmaier, space operations associate administrator. "We've
done a lot of extra reviews to make sure we didn't miss anything -- a
lot of testing…to make sure things were done right and they've done
a great job."
Wayne Hale, Space Program manager gave a lot of credit to the hundreds
of workers across the country who pulled together for the repair project.
"We're really proud of what they have done…in an unexpected
circumstance amidst all the other work they have to do," said Hale.
John Chapman, manager of the external tank project pointed out that the
tank will have a speckled appearance but it will not affect performance
or safety.
There will be a flight readiness review held on May 30, 31 and a media
event will be held afterwards to discuss the results of the meeting.
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