HOUSTON, May 13 (UPI) -- NASA said Thursday the countdown for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis on its final planned mission into space was proceeding without any problems.
Atlantis was to lift off Friday from the Kennedy Space Center on its STS-132 mission to the International Space Station at 2:20 p.m. EDT.
"We've had a very clean countdown so far and we're currently on schedule, and we're not working on any issues," NASA Test Director Jeremy Graeber said Thursday.
On the eve of their launch, the shuttle's six crew members attended a systems and weather briefing with the ascent team of flight controllers at the Mission Control Center in Houston, the space agency said.
During the 12-day mission, Atlantis will deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier and a Russian-built Mini Research Module to the space station, with three spacewalks scheduled.
Favorable weather is predicted for the Florida space center launch. NASA Weather Officer Todd McNamara said the primary launch weather concern is a low cloud ceiling. But he said the forecast is good overall, calling for a 70 percent chance of favorable conditions at launch time.
