Weather a Concern for Friday’s Launch of STS-135

Space Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters has updated her launch-day forecast, giving Atlantis and crew a 30 percent chance of favorable weather at the 11:26 a.m. EDT liftoff time. The concern is for showers and thunderstorms, flight through precipitation, and cumulus clouds.

Winters will discuss her updated forecast during today’s prelaunch news conference, which begins at 11:30 a.m. live on NASA TV and online at www.nasa.gov/ntv. Other participants will be Mike Moses, Mission Management Team chair and space shuttle launch integration manager and Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director.

The countdown for this final space shuttle launch began yesterday at 1 p.m., and this morning at the T-27 hour mark entered a planned hold at 5 a.m.

The Atlantis astronauts awoke at 4:30 a.m. to continue their preparations for launch.