STS-125 Mission Update – May 1 2009

At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the STS-125 astronauts are set to undergo one of their final medical checkups today prior to entering the standard prelaunch quarantine Monday.

Yesterday, top NASA and contractor managers met at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to conduct the executive-level Flight Readiness Review for the STS-125 mission to service NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The panel determined the shuttle’s equipment, support systems and procedures are ready for flight.

“We had a very thorough review,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, “and we set the launch date for May 11 at 2:01 p.m. Eastern Time.

“The teams are ready to go do what they need to do, and the vehicles look like they are in good shape,” Gerstenmaier concluded.

At Kennedy today, launch countdown preparations begin as technicians at Launch Pad 39A continue to ready space shuttle Atlantis for the mission.