Atlantis is Mississippi-bound after taking off atop a 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft from San Antonio, Texas, around 12:40 p.m. EDT.NASA officials are still targeting the space shuttle orbiter's arrival at Kennedy Space Center around 6 p.m. today.
First, the modified 747 will stop at Columbus Air Force Base around 2:40 p.m. EDT to refuel for the cross-country journey's final leg, a distance of roughly 700 miles.
The piggybacked aircraft did not plan to do a flyby of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, as Endeavour did in December, according to a center spokesman. To track the ferry flight, refresh this page for updates and:
-- Click on the aircraft's tail number: NASA911.
-- Sign up for text alerts using the black box on the right side of this page.
Atlantis started home to KSC from California on Monday, travelling from Edwards Air Force Base to Biggs Army Airfield at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.
The trip resumed this morning, with a departure from Biggs around 8:40 a.m. and a touchdown at Lackland Air Force Base (left) 90 minutes later. Read local news coverage of Atlantis' stop in San Antonio here.
If weather and time permit, pilots could put on a show for Space Coast residents and visitors prior to landing at KSC.
In the past, they have flown south along Interstate 95, crossed the Indian River Lagoon near the Pineda Causeway and looped up the coast near Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral before turning in to Merritt Island.
The route will based on on weather conditions as Atlantis nears its home port.
Atlantis launched May 11 on a final mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. The shuttle and seven astronauts landed May 24 in California because of rain that drenched the Cape for several days.
Click here to read some interesting background about Atlantis. It's one of three orbiters in NASA's shuttle fleet, along with Endeavour and Discovery.
Endeavour, by the way, is targeted to launch June 13 to the International Space Station, and its crew is scheduled to arrive at KSC around 3 p.m. this afternoon for training.
Mission commander Mark Polansky is posting updates on Twitter here.
NASA plans to retire the fleet next year after eight more missions to complete assembly of the station.
A blue-ribbon panel requested by President Obama is reviewing the future of NASA's human spaceflight program. Its members were announced Monday.
Plans currently call for the Ares I rocket to return astronauts to the station in the Apollo-style Orion crew capsule by 2015. A return to the moon could follow by 2020.
IMAGE NOTE: Top: The space shuttle Atlantis sits atop a modified Boeing 747 as it taxis at Lackland AFB before takeoff Tuesday. Below: The shuttle Atlantis landed Tuesday morning at Lackland AFB. Courtesy of Scott Johnson, San Antonio Express News. Map from FlightAware.
2 comments:
Darn, would have like to see her fly over.
The JSC flyby was great for the 100's of employees who NEVER see the bird. A lot of my friends there were excited.
It's GREAT advertising and they should use it since it is in air and enroute already.
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