On Tuesday, the US space shuttle Atlantis returned to the launch pad. 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.

The shuttle was transported 5.6 kilometres to the launch pad Tuesday in a more than six-hour-long rollout beginning around 5 am (0900 GMT).

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.