Washington: US space agency NASA will launch its space shuttle Atlantis on May 11 to upgrade the Hubble telescope.

The Atlantis and its seven crewmembers will depart from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre at 2 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) May 11.

The 11-day mission will include five spacewalks to renovate the Hubble space telescope with state-of-the-art science instruments, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.

Atlantis' launch date was announced after Thursday's Flight Readiness Review, it said.

The renovation work will expand the telescope's capabilities as well as its lifetime through at least 2014. IANS