NASA completes Atlantis repairs

WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- NASA says technicians have completed work on Space Shuttle Atlantis' external nose cone, repairing damage from a Florida hail storm.

Atlantis is scheduled to roll out to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center Wednesday.

"The teams have done a phenomenal job of repairing this tank," Bill Gerstenmaier, space operations associate administrator, said in a news release. "We've done a lot of extra reviews to make sure we didn't miss anything -- a lot of testing ... to make sure things were done right and they've done a great job."

John Chapman, manager of the external tank project, said the tank will have a speckled appearance but it will not affect performance or safety.

A flight readiness review will be held May 30.