Updates follow in the pre-launch sequence of the Space Shuttle Atlantis launch.

Earlier in the day, a loose pipe clamp located on the launch platform beneath the shuttle was discovered. Launch managers determined that the loose clamp would not pose any safety problems when the shuttle lifts off launch pad 39A.

As it stands, a scheduled hold in the countdown at 00:45 minutes has just been released. At a Florida clock time of about 6:15 p.m. EDT the Shuttle crew is under 1.5 hours from liftoff.

UPDATE: The new launch time is 7:38:04 p.m. EDT., what is considered the sweet spot in the launch window. This announcement occurred at just about 6:15 p.m. EDT.

UPDATE: A scheduled hold in the countdown is at 00:20 minutes, at about 6:23 p.m. EDT.

UPDATE: A scheduled hold in the countdown is at 00:09 mniutes, a 46 minute hold, at about 6:44 p.m. EDT. At this time, all ground crew are leaving the launch pad in preparation for the launch.

UPDATE: The launch hold continues with a status of "everything go" for the launch, at 7:00 p.m. EDT, approximately 38 minutes before liftoff.

UPDATE: Clock will resume at 07:29:04 p.m. EDT (23:29:04 GMT).

UPDATE: Clock resumes at 07:29:04. All is go.

UPDATE: Orbiter Assess Arm is being retracted at 7:33 p.m. EDT in preparation for liftoff.

UPDATE: Atlantis and STS-117 launches on time.

The Associated Press (via MSNBC) gives a good summary of the last six months for NASA:

The mission was delayed for three months after a freak storm at the launch pad hurled golfball-size hail at Atlantis’ 154-foot (47-meter) fuel tank, putting thousands of pockmarks in its vital insulating foam and one of the orbiter’s wings.

Although the repaired burnt-orange tank was splotched with so many white patches Friday it looked like a beat-up old car that had undergone bodywork in someone’s garage, officials said it was safe.

“We have done extensive tests and analysis,” said LeRoy Cain, launch integration manager.

Over the past few months, NASA has also seen the arrest of astronaut Lisa Nowak in an alleged plot to kidnap her rival for a shuttle pilot’s affections; a murder-suicide at the Johnson Space Center in Houston; and the derailment of a train carrying rocket-booster segments for future shuttle launches. More recently, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has come under fire for suggesting that global warming may not be a problem worth wrestling with.

“We’ve had a tough six months for a number of different reasons,” Griffin told The Associated Press hours before the liftoff. “We’d love to have a textbook launch and a textbook mission. It would just make everybody feel good.”

To view coverage of the STS-117 mission, go to NASA TV at: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html.

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