Space shuttle Atlantis returns to launch pad

After more than two months of repairs to its external fuel tank, space shuttle Atlantis has returned to its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center.

The shuttle was transported back atop the crawler transporter from its Vehicle Assembly Building. According to reports, this comes as a run up to the scheduled launch of Atlantis and its STS-117 astronauts crew on June 8.

After it blasts off on June 8, the Atlantis crew is expected to effect a new addition to the International Space Station's truss system. Besides, the 11 day mission would see three spacewalks being taken.

It may be recalled that though Atlantis was scheduled to be launched on March 15, NASA managers postponed it following a freak storm over Pad 39A which pelted the orbiter's foam-covered fuel tank with hail. The fuel tank repairs have now been completely done.

Technicians have injected new insulation foam in a bid to avert mishaps. It is now hoped that the launch of Atlantis would put the space agency back on a regular schedule of shuttle missions. The last space shuttle flight was in December, and three more missions are scheduled after Atlantis, for 2007.

NASA cannot afford to make another mistake as in 2003, when a piece of insulation broke free from the Columbia orbiter's tank during launch and breached the spacecraft's left wing-mounted heat shield. The damage led to the loss of the orbiter and its seven-astronaut crew as they reentered the Earth's atmosphere.