NASA confident ahead of year&#39;s first shuttle mission
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NASA said it is confident it will be able to launch the space shuttle Atlantis Friday for the first mission of the year, after a launch date three months ago was scrapped due to hail damage.
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration Test Director Steve Payne said he expected space shuttle Atlantis to launch as scheduled Friday.
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NASA is finally ready  to fly its first mission of the year, with space shuttle  Atlantis and seven astronauts scheduled for liftoff at 7:38  p.m. EDT on Friday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Â The seven astronauts set to launch aboard NASA's shuttle Discovery next week arrived at the agency's spaceport Friday eager to fly and confident their spacecraft is safe to rocket into orbit.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida  - The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis was rolled out to its seaside launch pad on Thursday in preparation for a planned liftoff in March on the first of five missions NASA hopes to fly this year.
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NASA (news - web sites) is aiming for a mid-May launch of the first shuttle flight since the Columbia tragedy almost two years ago.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida  - NASA hopes to launch   its December shuttle mission a week earlier than planned to   give its workers time off for the holidays, agency officials   said on Friday.
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Preparations are on schedule for NASA's first nighttime space shuttle launch in four years, managers said Wednesday.
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NASA officials said they were confident they will be able to launch the space shuttle Atlantis on Friday for the first mission of the year, after a launch date in March was scrapped due to hail damage.
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For the first time in almost a year, NASA was set to launch a space shuttle Saturday on a mission that will test whether the space agency has reduced the risks of flying in the 25-year-old vehicles.
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Final preparations were under way Friday for the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis for the first mission of the year, with weather conditions looking good for a blastoff to the International Space Station.
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The American space agency Nasa says the first space shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster of 2003 is to be launched next May or early June.
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CAPE CANAVERAL-- NASA aims to launch its first post-Columbia shuttle mission during a shortened nine-day window March, and failure to do so likely would delay a planned return to flight until at least May.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida  - NASA managers had their   fingers crossed on Monday in hopes that this week's planned   launch of the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis will go ahead after a   week's delay due to a lightning strike and a storm.
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Astronauts assigned to NASA's first space shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster said on Friday they are confident mistakes and technical problems that led to that accident are in the past.
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NASA prepared to launch space shuttle Discovery on a complex International Space Station mission, even as lingering clouds threatened to delay liftoff by at least 24 hours.
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NASA resolved lingering concerns about lines connecting the external fuel tank to Atlantis on Wednesday and moved ahead with preparations for the first space shuttle launch of the year.