NASA’s officials confirmed that repairs on the external tank
on Space Shuttle Atlantis have been completed. "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."
Atlantis was set to launch on March 15, but engineers said
it would take until June to repair the 2,500 dents counted after the hail
storm, which struck the shuttle February 28 as it stood on the launchpad at Cape
Canaveral, Florida.
The damage had led NASA to consider scrapping the fuel tank altogether, but the
agency decided it was repairable.
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.
June 8 is the opening of the next available launch window
for Atlantis to go to the station. STS-117 Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Lee
Archambault and mission specialists Jim Reilly, Patrick Forrester, Steven
Swanson and John "Danny" Olivas will continue training at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston.
During the 11-day mission, the astronauts will work with the station crew and
ground teams to install a new, girder-like truss segment, unfold a new set of
solar arrays and retract one array on the starboard side of the station.
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