The four veteran astronauts for space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-135 mission are expected to arrive at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center slightly earlier than originally scheduled. Their T-38 jets now are expected to touch down at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility at about 5:30 p.m. EDT. The crew’s arrival will air live on NASA TV and on www.nasa.gov/ntv.
The crew is coming to Kennedy for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test and related training. The countdown full dress rehearsal is scheduled for Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, at Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A, technicians are performing high-tech X-ray scans of the tops and bottoms of 50 support beams, called stringers, on the shuttle-facing side of space shuttle Atlantis’ external fuel tank. The scans should take about a week to complete and are expected to confirm there are no problems with the tank’s stringers. Scans began Sunday due to strong storms on Saturday, which caused no damage to the shuttle and pad. Technicians are also replacing a suspected leaky valve in Atlantis’ space shuttle main engine No. 3.
Atlantis is being prepared for the STS-135 mission, the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program, targeted for launch July 8.