NASA said Friday that all systems on the space shuttle Atlantis were functioning and the craft was ready for liftoff near Cape Canaveral, Fla. The process of filling the external orange fuel tank of the shuttle, which is scheduled to launch at 11:41 a.m. EDT Friday at the Kennedy Space Center, began in the early hours of Friday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. NASA said weather for the launch was at 70 percent "go" Friday morning, with rain falling less than 20 miles from the Shuttle Landing Facility, the United Press International (UPI) reported. The launch had been delayed several times, including earlier this week when an issue was discovered with one of Atlantis' three electricity-generating fuel cells. Wayne Hale, the Space Shuttle Program manager, told a news conference Thursday that the decision to launch was made by space shuttle mission managers and engineers that afternoon in a unanimous vote.
