At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the STS-125 crew will take a break from today’s training simulations to hold a news conference as part of the preflight briefings. The news conference will be carried live on NASA TV at 2 p.m. EDT.
Inside the rotating service structure of Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A, technicians last night finished loading the STS-125 payload into the cargo bay of space shuttle Atlantis. The payload consists of the hardware and tools to be used during the mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
The mission’s final executive-level review is set to begin at Kennedy on April 30, and a firm launch date will be announced at that time. Liftoff currently is targeted for May 12 at 1:31 p.m. EDT.