Discovery targeting Monday return to KSC

NASA plans to begin space shuttle Discovery's 2,500-mile ferry flight back to Florida on Sunday, potentially returning the spacecraft to its home port as early as Monday morning.

If good weather forecasts hold, the modified 747 jumbo jet holding Discovery would take off from Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mohave Desert around 9:20 Eastern time.

The first refueling stop is planned at Rick Husband International Airport in Amarillo, Tex. If possible, the flight will continue as far as Shreveport, La. for an overnight stay.

Then the piggybacked aircraft would hope to finish the trek to Kennedy Space Center Monday morning, flying low up the Brevard County coastline if weather allows.

Discovery landed Sept. 11 at Edwards to end a 14-day International Space Station supply mission, after prevented a Space Coast touchdown.

Over the past week at Edwards, roughly 200 technicians - the majority on loan from KSC - have prepared the shuttle for the ferry flight.

They drained residual propellants, inspected heat shields and attached a tail cone that reduces aerodynamic drag before bolting the orbiter on top of the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA.

Discovery weighs 224,664 pounds, including a cargo module in the payload bay that weighs more than eight tons.

The SCA has backed out of the Mate/De-mate Device, or MDD, pictured above.

A NASA C-9 pathfinder aircraft staffed with about 40 crew and support personnel will fly about 20 minutes ahead of the carrier aircraft to monitor weather conditions.

Unstable weather in the southeast kept the ferry flight grounded today.

To protect the un-powered shuttle from cold temperatures that could damage systems, the carrier jumbo jet typically cruises at an altitude of 13,000 to 15,000 feet.

Once back at KSC, Discovery will be prepped for another flight planned in March.

IMAGE NOTE: Space shuttle Discovery was carefully placed atop its modified Boeing 747 carrier during mating operations in preparation for its ferry flight from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA photo / Tony Landis)