George Diller/STS-132 Launch Commentator: From Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida,
this is Shuttle Launch Control at T-3 hours and holding.
We are now about to enter the final five hours of the countdown for the launch of Atlantis on mission STS-132.
The countdown is being controlled from Firing Room 4 at the Launch control Center,
and we are on schedule for liftoff, targeted for 2:20 p.m. Eastern time.
This is the 132nd launch of the Space Shuttle Program, the 32nd launch of space shuttle Atlantis,
and the 34th shuttle flight to the International Space Station.
This will be a 12-day mission with a landing at Kennedy Space Center, currently planned for May 26 at 8:44 a.m.
There are six astronauts who will shortly be aboard Atlantis en route to a rendezvous with the International Space Station.
There are three planned EVAs, or spacewalks, during the mission that will last approximately six hours during
the one-week period that Atlantis will be docked with the International Space Station.
The launch countdown began here in Firing Room 4 of the Launch Control Center at 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.
There are 70 hours, 15 minutes in the countdown, including built-in holds leading to the opening of the launch window.
There are two remaining planned built-in holds to come in the countdown today:
a 10-minute hold at the T-20 minute mark at 1:05 p.m.
and a 40-minute hold at the T-9 minute mark at 1:26 p.m.
And in this current built-in hold at T-3 hours, we have one hour and 22 minutes remaining in the hold.
The retraction of the gantry-like rotating service structure from around Atlantis was
around 5:29 p.m. on Thursday, yesterday afternoon.
After that time, switches in the cockpit were configured for launch by astronaut personnel aboard Atlantis.
And yesterday afternoon, there was also a final stowage of time-critical items that the crew will use during the
mission as well as the science experiments placed aboard the middeck.
And then personnel began to be cleared from the launch pad, and the orbiter's
cryogenic fuel cells were activated, just before midnight.
With one hour, 18 minutes, 47 seconds remaining in this planned, built-in hold, we're at T-3 hours and holding.
This is Shuttle Launch Control.