NASA clears US space shuttle for June 8 launch

Cape Canaveral (Fla), June 1: Space shuttle Atlantis got the go-ahead from NASA for a June 8 launch to resume construction of the International Space Station, after a three-month delay to repair hailstone damage.

Barring technical problems or weather-related delays, the shuttle is scheduled to lift off at 7:38 p.m. EDT (0508 hrs IST) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

''We're good to go,'' shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said. ''We have no show-stoppers ahead of us,'' he told a news conference yesterday.

NASA had planned to fly its first mission of the year in March, but a hailstorm on February 26 hammered the shuttle, damaging its external fuel tank.

The shuttle was returned to a processing hangar for repairs that stole valuable time from a tight schedule to finish building the space station before shuttles which are required for assembly of the orbital outpost are retired in 2010.

''I'm extremely confident that we have had perfectly good repairs,'' Hale said.

During the downtime, NASA decided to use Atlantis to ferry a new crew member to the space station and bring home astronaut Sunita Williams, who has been aboard the outpost since December.

Originally, the crew swap was scheduled to take place during the second flight of the year, which now won't occur until August at the earliest.

Atlantis will carry a new set of power-producing solar wings to the station, which is being expanded to accommodate laboratories built by the European and Japanese space agencies.

Columbia Accident Response

Also yesterday, NASA released its final response to recommendations made by the board that investigated the fatal 2003 Columbia accident. The agency estimated total costs to recover from the accident will be about 1.2 billion dollars. Most of the work is complete, with modifications to the shuttles' fuel tanks consuming most of NASA's attention and funds.

Columbia was hit by a piece of foam that fell off its fuel tank during launch, damaging the ship's heat shield. As the shuttle flew through the atmosphere for landing 16 days later, superheated atmospheric gases punched through the breach, triggering the ship's destruction over Texas. Seven astronauts aboard died.

Despite the time and money spent to return the shuttles to flight, the fleet will be retired in three years when the space station assembly is expected to be finished. In addition to 15 flights to the station, NASA wants to fly a final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Mindful of Columbia, the damage to Atlantis' tank struck a nerve, but NASA is confident it will be safe to fly.

''Even though there are a lot of dimples on the tank, they're very low mass,'' said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations. ''It has a slightly higher risk due to the number of repairs.'' ''It's as good almost as a regular tank that we would go fly,'' he added.

NASA will be able to make launch attempts through June 12, but then would have to wait a few days to allow time for a previously scheduled military satellite to be launched from the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The Air Force base and NASA share support services, such as radar and ground tracking, which take about two days to reconfigure for different launch vehicles.

Atlantis' seven-member crew is scheduled to arrive in Florida on Monday for final flight preparations. The three-day launch countdown would begin Tuesday evening.

Reuters>