Space shuttle Atlantis remains in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, undergoing preparations for its rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building scheduled for Oct. 6.
Closure of the payload bay door in anticipation for the rollover is planned for Friday. Testing of the wing leading edge sensors is ongoing. The sensors help monitor the reinforced carbon carbon heat shield panels on the shuttle’s wings for possible debris impacts.
Once Atlantis is in the VAB, it will be joined with the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters that already have been stacked on the mobile launcher platform in High Bay 2.
Rollout to Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A is scheduled for Oct. 13.