NASA administrators approved rolling the shuttle Atlantis for the launch

The transfer will take place this Wednesday, on May 30 it will also be finally decided whether it is ready for launch on mission STS-117 on June 8

Last Friday, NASA held a crucial meeting of the senior officials and engineers at NASA, in which it was announced that the repairs to the outer fuel tank of the space shuttle Atlantis had been completed. The shuttle is scheduled to be rolled out for launch on Wednesday, May 16, starting at 04:00 a.m. EST (21:00 p.m. Tuesday Israel time).

"The team did an excellent job repairing the canister," said Bill Gerstenmeier, NASA's assistant administrator for space mission operations. "We did a lot of tests and additional tests to make sure we didn't miss anything - a lot of tests to make sure everything was done right, and they really did a good job."

Wayne Hale, director of the space program, praised the hundreds of workers all over the United States who banded together to carry out the repair work. This is a heavy task in light of the fact that they also continued with their ongoing and equally important work," Hale said. John Chapman, project manager of the external fuel tank indicated that the fuel tank will be speckled, but this does not affect performance or safety.

NASA will conduct tests of the shuttle's flight readiness on May 30 and 31. Immediately after that, the media will be informed of the decision that will finally determine whether the ferry will be launched on the currently planned date - June 8.

For previous information on the subject: The rotation on the space station will be advanced to mission STS-117

The shuttle page on the NASA website