Today at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians at Launch Pad 39A will begin the week-long process of closing space shuttle Atlantis’ aft section in preparation for its liftoff on the STS-135 mission to the International Space Station. Tomorrow, managers will meet at Kennedy to conduct the final Flight Readiness Review, which is expected to confirm the currently targeted launch date of July 8.
Over the weekend, teams at the pad completed a full retest of the No. 3 engine’s main fuel valve. They replaced the valve last week due to a suspected leak detected during a tanking test on June 15. In addition, engineers found no issues with the 21-foot long support beams on space shuttle Atlantis’ external fuel tank following X-ray scans of the stringers that were completed last week.
At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston today, the STS-135 astronauts are set to practice an entry simulation as they continue to train for the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program.