Update, 8:55 a.m.: Atlantis is on its way to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Atlantis will hop from one Texas military base to another this morning on the next leg of its ferry flight home to Kennedy Space Center.
Riding atop a modified 747 jumbo jet, the shuttle orbiter is scheduled to depart Biggs Army Airfield at Fort Bliss, near El Paso, at 8:40 a.m. EDT. It should cover the roughly 550 miles to Lackland Air Force Bsae near San Antonio in about 90 minutes.
You can track the flight by clicking the aircraft's tail number here: NASA911. And be sure to refresh this page for periodic updates.
You can also sign up for text message alerts on this page to get updates on Atlantis' progress throughout the day.
A second refueling stop is likely before Atlantis pushes on to Kennedy Space Center, where it's expected to arrive no earlier than 6 p.m. today.
Weather briefings throughout the day will determine the route the piggybacked aircraft take and timing of their local arrival.
Atlantis on Monday left Edwards Air Force Base in California, where it landed May 24 to conclude a 13-day mission.
The day's only stop was at Biggs. You can read the El Paso Times' coverage of that event here.
This morning's stop in San Antonio, about 200 miles west of Houston, means a flyby of the shuttle program's home at Johnson Space Center could be in the cards later today.
Click here to see an interactive graphic by FLORIDA TODAY's Dennis Lowe that explains ferry flight basics.
IMAGE NOTE: The space shuttle Atlantis sat atop a modified 747 after it landed at Biggs Army Airfield on Monday. The shuttle is being ferried from Edwards Air Force Base in California back to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Credit: Rudy Gutierrez/El Paso Times.
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