CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., June 28 (UPI) -- After a flight readiness review, NASA says it has set a launch date for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 mission of July 8, with blastoff at 11:26 a.m. EDT.
"We had a very thorough review," said Bill Gerstenmaier, assistant administrator for space operations, of the review conducted at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"This flight is incredibly important. The cargo that is coming up on this flight is really mandatory for space station," he said in a NASA release Tuesday.
"Atlantis is in great shape out at the pad," Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director said. "Team Atlantis is feeling good about the flow and the launch countdown and hope we'll be able to get her off the ground on Friday the 8th as scheduled."
The STS-135 mission to the International Space Station will be the final flight of NASA's space shuttle program after almost 30 years of launches.
