UPDATE 2-NASA finds minor scratch damage to shuttle shield

* More inspections are unlikely

* Launch pad damage also discovered after lift-off

* Shuttle to reach Hubble Telescope on Wednesday

(Adds more details of scratch damage)

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. May 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis apparently was hit by a piece of debris that nicked part of its heat shield but the damage appeared very minor, NASA said on Tuesday.

Atlantis and its seven-member crew blasted off from Florida on Monday on an 11-day mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

It will be the U.S. space agency's last chance to tinker with the the telescope -- which has vastly expanded scientists' knowledge of the universe -- before NASA ends the shuttle program in 2010.

NASA told the Atlantis crew additional inspections might be needed of the area where the ship's right wing joins the fuselage around where the debris hit. But agency officials said later that a detailed inspection was unlikely.