NASA clears last space shuttle for July 8 blast-off

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FLORIDA: NASA managers cleared space shuttle Atlantis on Tuesday for a July 8 launch, approving it for a cargo run to the International Space Station and the final flight in the 30-year-old shuttle program.

Lift-off of the shuttle manned by a minimal crew of four astronauts is set for 11:26 a.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The 12-day flight was added to the shuttle's schedule last year to buy time in case NASA's newly hired cargo delivery companies have problems getting their spacecraft into orbit.

Atlantis will be delivering a year's worth of food, clothing, science equipment and supplies to the orbital outpost, a $100 billion project of 16 nations that circles 220 miles above Earth.

"This flight is incredibly important to the space station. The cargo that is coming up on this flight is really mandatory," said NASA's spaceflight chief Bill Gerstenmaier.

Earlier on Tuesday, the threat of an orbital debris impact interrupted the station's preparations for Atlantis' visit. NASA learned that an unidentified piece of space debris was likely to pass close to the station and told the crew to seek shelter in the station's two Russian Soyuz escape capsules.

Typically, the station maneuvers to avoid potential debris impacts, but the notice came just 14 hours before the closest approach, too late to plan and conduct an avoidance maneuver.