Launch day continues to progress very smoothly at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where space shuttle Atlantis is poised to launch on its STS-132 mission at 2:20 p.m. EDT. Countdown clocks are holding at T-20 minutes for a 10-minute-long built-in pause.
The mission’s six astronauts all are strapped into their seats in Atlantis’ crew module, the external tank is fully loaded with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, and the launch team is not tracking any issues at this point that would prevent an on-time launch.
Weather remains favorable, with STS-132 Weather Officer Todd McNamara predicting a 70 percent chance of good conditions at launch time.