The FINANCIAL -- According to RIA Novosti, the Atlantis shuttle will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 14 on its last trip to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA said in a statement on May 6.
"We had a very thorough review today...the vehicle is ready to go fly," NASA quoted Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations.
NASA said Atlantis will deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier and a Russian-built Rassvet Mini Research Module, which will provide additional storage space and a new docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.
Commander Ken Ham will lead the six-member astronaut crew during the 12-day flight, which will see three space walks to perform maintenance tasks and to attach the Russian module to the station.
Shuttle mission STS-132 is the final scheduled flight for Atlantis.
NASA will carry out two more shuttle launches by mid-November and then scrap the program. The U.S. space agency says the shuttles are outdated and too expensive to maintain.
Russian spacecraft will subsequently be used to deliver U.S. astronauts and cargoes to the ISS.
Related Stories
