Discovery Returns Home to America's Spaceport

Discovery arrives at America's Spaceport today (NASA)

Heavy gray clouds and anxious technicians greeted the space shuttle Discovery today as she arrived at America's Spaceport following a 2500 mile journey riding piggyback a top a NASA Boeing 747 jet.

The massive wheels of the 747-200 aircraft slammed the concrete of runway 33 at the shuttle landing facility here at the Kennedy Space Center at 12:06 pm EDT.

Inside the orbiter, is a space module which spent one week docked to the international space station, and is crammed with a multitude of trash, completed experiments and used parts. Discovery herself spent 10 days docked with station on a resupply flight.

Ten days ago, Discovery fired her breaking engines and left earth orbit aimed for a landing at Edwards, AFB in southern California due to inclement weather at Kennedy. Following one week of preparations which saw the orbiter raised and mounted a top the 747 jet on Friday, the pair departed the California desert at daybreak on Sunday.

Dodging thunderstorms, the Aeronautical Duo flew from the Florida panhandle and southeast toward central Florida. The mighty Boeing 747 banked from southwest of Orlando and headed due east toward the southern section of Cape Canaveral.

At 12:30 pm, Discovery was then towed to the nearby mate-demate device which allows technicians to safely remove the orbiter from the back of the 747 using a massive crane. Later today, Discovery will then be towed to the orbiter processing facility to continue the deserving work which was started out at Edwards in support of her next flight.

Discovery's next spaceflight is currently targeted for March 2010, on a resupply mission to the space station.

Discovery aiming for Noon arrival in Florida

The space shuttle Discovery will spend this morning dodging rain storms as she continues the final leg of her journey piggyback a top a Boeing 747-200 jet.

Spotty rain storms in the deep south forced NASA and the pilots of the shuttle carrier aircraft to reroute the second day of the Aeronautical Duo's cross country trip which began early yesterday from southern California.

The Boeing 747-200 aircraft took off from it's overnight stay at Barksdale, AFB in northern Louisiana this morning at 9:36 am EDT. At 10:08 am, the pair had to divert off its flight path as the crew worked to avoid a storm cell as they flew along I-20 west near Jackson, Mississippi.

NASA stated this morning, "The ferry flight team plans to divert to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida to refuel and temporarily wait for a break in the weather."

NASA 747-Discovery Lands In Louisiana

News photographer Henrietta Wildsmith of The Shreveport Times took several special images for SpaceLaunch News earlier this evening as the Space shuttle Discovery and its ferry-flight Boeing 747-200 arrived at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

Discovery arrives for overnight stay in Louisiana

Discovery arrives in Shreveport tonight (Val Horvath/Times)

The space shuttle Discovery riding a top a Boeing 747-200 jet arrived at Barksdale, AFB near Shreveport, Louisiana, following it's sunrise departure from the southern California desert today.

The Aeronautical Duo arrived at Barksdale at 6:39 pm EDT, this evening following refueling stops in Amarillo and Ft. Worth Naval Air Station, Texas.

Early tomorrow morning, the modified 747 jet will depart Shreveport and steer southeast as it carries a beautiful white dove bound for Discovery's home, the Kennedy Space Center. The 747 is due to land at Cape Canaveral on the shuttle landing facility at about 10:30 am.

NASA pilot Charles Justiz, flying aboard the NASA 747 told this reporter via text message tonight, "Weather looks good to finish Orbiter Discovery move tomorrow, but morning fog at Barksdale may delay getting started. Fingers crossed."

The last space shuttle orbiter to visit the northern Louisiana air base was Endeavour last December during her ferry flight back to Kennedy, too.

Aeronautical Duo Departs Edwards, AFB

A modified NASA Boeing 747 jumbo jet with the space shuttle Discovery bolted a top departed Edwards, AFB in southern California this morning in a sunrise take off from where the spacecraft landed one week ago.


The massive 747-200 aircraft throttled up her multiple engines and sped down runway 04 at Edwards, slowly lifting the nose up first before rising up to begin a nearly 2,500 mile journey to the Kennedy Space Center.

Discovery Ferry Flight Home Begins Soon

The cross country ferry flight of the space shuttle Discovery atop a 747 jumbo jet is scheduled to begin in one hour from southern California, as teams begin boarding and receive their final weather checks before departure.

Discovery, bolted down a top a modified Boeing 747-200 jet, is now scheduled to depart Edwards Air Force Base to begin a nearly 2,500 mile journey to her home here at the Kennedy Space Center at 9:30 am EDT this morning.

After flying over Arizona and New Mexico at an altitude of 15,000 feet, it is scheduled to make the first of two stops today at 12:13 pm EDT, as the aeronautical duo lands at the Rick Husband International Airport in Amarillo, Texas to refuel, perform a weather update east of north Texas and let the crew eat.

If the weather in Louisiana looks favorable, then the 747-combo will be wheels up about two hours later and possibly aim for Barksdale Air Force Base outside Shreveport for an overnight stay.

On Monday, the jumbo jet with its prized cargo riding a top, will depart northern Louisiana at sunrise and aim for a return to America's Space Coast at just before Noon with a traditional low fly over of the beaches from New Smyrna south to Cocoa Beach - including the KSC Industrial area.

SpaceLaunchNews.com will have LIVE updates and television coverage of the flight, including Twitter updates (@spacelaunchnews).