NASA’s officials confirmed that repairs on the external tank on Space Shuttle Atlantis have been completed. "The teams have done a phenomenal job of repairing this tank," said Bill Gerstenmaier, space operations associate administrator. "We've done a lot of extra reviews to make sure we didn't miss anything -- a lot of testing…to make sure things were done right and they've done a great job."

Atlantis was set to launch on March 15, but engineers said it would take until June to repair the 2,500 dents counted after the hail storm, which struck the shuttle February 28 as it stood on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The damage had led NASA to consider scrapping the fuel tank altogether, but the agency decided it was repairable.

Wayne Hale, Space Program manager gave a lot of credit to the hundreds of workers across the country who pulled together for the repair project. "We're really proud of what they have done…in an unexpected circumstance amidst all the other work they have to do," said Hale.

June 8 is the opening of the next available launch window for Atlantis to go to the station. STS-117 Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Lee Archambault and mission specialists Jim Reilly, Patrick Forrester, Steven Swanson and John "Danny" Olivas will continue training at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston. During the 11-day mission, the astronauts will work with the station crew and ground teams to install a new, girder-like truss segment, unfold a new set of solar arrays and retract one array on the starboard side of the station.