CAPE CANAVERAL, United States (AFP) - Weather forecasters are predicting "very favorable" conditions for this week's planned launch of the Atlantic space shuttle, a NASA spokesman said.

"There is no technical issue and the weather forecast is very favorable," spokesman Bruce Buckingham told AFP.

The September 6 launch of Atlantis on a mission to the International Space Station is set for 12:29 pm (1629 GMT) today after several scrubbed attempts.

If weather or technical problems delay the launch, NASA could try again on Thursday or Friday, but would have to wait until the end of October if that three-day window closes.

The Atlantis is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the first ISS assembly mission in nearly four years, as the 2003 Columbia disaster forced NASA to focus on improving safety in the past two shuttle flights.