The space shuttle Atlantis is the fourth operational shuttle built and one of the three fully operational shuttles remaining in the fleet. It took two and a half months to repair its external fuel tank and today it began the slow journey back to the launch pad.
On June 8, the shuttle is programmed for a flight to the International Space Station for construction and repair works, after the March launch was postponed and NASA managers ordered the shuttle to return to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs.
The repairs were necessary to remove the effect of a freak hail storm during which the shuttle was struck by golf ball-sized ice balls that made thousands of dings to insulation foam on the external fuel tank.
According to NASA officials, the repairs, done at the Vehicle Assembly Building were successful and now the ship has begun the 3.4-mile trip to the launch pad, aboard the massive crawler-transporter, which are planned to take about 7 hours.
"It's a real success story - almost bordering on an Apollo 13 type story to develop that in such a short time," John Chapman, NASA's manager of the external tank project, said last week. He was talking about the 1970 incident when the space shuttle heading for the Moon had been successfully brought back to Earth after an oxygen tank ruptured on the spacecraft.
Foam debris is not taken lightly at NASA, after the Columbia disaster, when seven astronauts died when a piece of foam from the tank struck a wing during launch, allowing fiery gases to penetrate the space shuttle while returning to Earth.
Atlantis is carrying NASA's hopes to put the spaceflights back on track after a five-month break, with plans to carry out another 14 missions until 2010, when the shuttle fleet will be grounded, awaiting replacement with the next-generation spacecraft, Orion.
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