Next, on the NASA Space Shuttle Status Report.
The month of June begins with many Return to Flight preparations at Kennedy Space Center.
The anticipation builds as progress on Space Shuttle Discovery takes place inside the Vehicle
Assembly Building, paving the way for a date to roll out to the launch pad.
And, with sights set on a late summer launch for Atlantis, technicians prepare for the arrival of
the third Return to Flight External Tank.
The Space Shuttle Status Report starts right now.
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I'm Tim O'Brien, NASA Ground Operations Manager, and this is the NASA Space Shuttle Status Report.
This week in Return to Flight news, Discovery was removed from its External Tank and Solid Rocket
Boosters inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center on June 2nd.
The "de-mate" as it's called, was necessary so that Discovery could be attached to a different flight stack.
On Monday June 6th, the orbiter was mated to it's new tank and boosters. This External Tank is
outfitted with a new heater modification to the tank's feedline bellows.
Focus now turns toward rolling Discovery out to launch pad 39B in the coming days to prepare for
a launch window that opens July 13th.
Meanwhile, some additional work is being performed on one of Discovery's payloads, called Raffaello.
The Multi-Purpose Logistics Module was transferred to the Space Station Processing Facility
where the mission processing team is checking fasteners inside the module.
This additional work will not affect the STS-114 launch planning window.
Technicians continue power-up testing on Atlantis inside Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 for
its mission designated STS-121 to the International Space Station.
Forward, mid-body and aft-area closeouts continue.
And, as early as next week, technicians are beginning the cleaning of the payload bay doors for final closure prior to flight.
That's all the time we have for this week's Space Shuttle Status Report.
Be sure to check back next week for the latest updates as NASA prepares for a safe Return to
Flight mission to the International Space Station this July.
Until then, log-on to nasa.gov for Return to Flight updates and other NASA mission news.
I'm Tim O'Brien for the NASA Space Shuttle Status Report.
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