Endeavour takes off on piggyback trip home

The orbiter Endeavour and its 747 carrier aircraft are on their way back to Kennedy Space Center after taking off on what is scheduled to be a two-day, cross-country trip to the spaceship's homeport.

Securely mounted to the top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, Endeavour departed Edwards Air Force Base right about 10:05 a.m., heading off on the first leg of its piggyback ride back to KSC.

The 747 and Endeavour are flying to Biggs Army Airfield at Fort Bliss, Texas, near El Paso. The trip is expected to take two hours and 11 minutes.

You can track the 747 and Endeavour real time by clicking here: Track Endeavour.














And you can click to enlarge and save each of the images in this series of 10 NASA TV screen grabs:






























Endeavour and seven astronauts landed at Edwards Nov. 30 after stiff winds prompted NASA to forego two landing opportunities at KSC.

The earliest the shuttle and its carrier aircraft might be back to KSC is mid- to late-afternoon on Thursday.