Template by NASA declared the Atlantis shuttle ready to launch on August 27 on the first mission aimed at completing construction of the International Space Station since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
"We have set the launch date again for the 27th (of August)," Bill Gerstenmaier, the NASA associate administrator for space operations, said in a televised news conference from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "We are ready to go for that."
NASA officials voted unanimously to go ahead with the launch after a two-day flight readiness review, Gerstenmaier said. The shuttle has an August 27-September 13 launch window.
The Atlantis flight will be the third shuttle mission since Columbia disintegrated over Texas in February 2003.
The previous two Discovery missions, last year and in July, focused on testing shuttle repair techniques and reducing the risk of damaging foam insulation peeling off the orbiter's external fuel tank during liftoff. Columbia was doomed by a large piece of foam that pierced its heat shield during launch.
