NASA Targets May 11 for Shuttle Launch to Hubble

„Things have to fall into place and right now everything seems to be going real well,“ NASA spokesperson Kyle Herring told SPACE.com from the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Officials at NASA’s Florida spaceport also said Friday that a ding on Atlantis’ payload bay door from a dropped wrench socket did not damage the radiator there and poses no threat to the planned May 11 launch. Some shuttle workers were struck by the falling socket at the launch pad, but no serious injuries were reported.

The new launch target won’t become official until top NASA managers sign off on it in a Thursday (April 30) Flight Readiness Review. If approved, Atlantis would launch Monday, May 11 at 2:01:49 p.m. EDT (1801:49) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a nearly 45-minute window that opens at 1:41:49 p.m. EDT (1741:49).