Blogger update, 5:20 p.m.: Endeavour and its 747 carrier aircraft landed at the Fort Worth Naval Air Station at 4:17 p.m., and the plane has been refueled. NASA spokesman George Diller said the flight is expected to resume at noon Thursday, but the chances of reaching Kennedy Space Center are slim because of an advancing cold front. "If we get a chance, we'll take advantage of it," he said. Blogger update, 2:45 p.m.: Endeavour and its carrier aircraft are back in the air. They took off from Fort Bliss at 2:34 p.m. Landing at Carswell Field near Fort Worth is expected around 4:20 p.m.
NASA today plans to ferry Endeavour as far as the Fort Worth, Texas, area.
The 747 aircraft carrying the orbiter on its back is expected to take off from Fort Bliss near El Paso around 2:10 p.m. EST.
The next stop is Carswell Field, an airfield operated by the Navy about five miles west of Fort Worth. The trip - roughly 600 miles by car - should take less than two hours.
You can track the progress of the piggybacked vehicles in real time by clicking here: Track Endeavour.
The two vehicles left Edwards Air Force Base in California just after 10 a.m. EST today.
Endeavour landed at Edwards on Nov. 30 because of storms and strong crosswinds at Kennedy Space Center. The trip back to Florida typically takes two days.
But a NASA spokesman today said weather forecasts suggested it was unlikely Endeavour would be able to make it all the way home Thursday.
The carrier aircraft is expected to make at least one stop Thursday to refuel. Updated forecasts will determine whether the journey continues to KSC from there.
IMAGE NOTE: Click on the images above to enlarge them. Above, Endeavour is shown in a NASA TV image piggybacked on the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft as they left Edwards Air Force Base this morning. The map generated by FlightAware shows the Texas locations of Fort Bliss and Carswell Field.
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