The Space Shuttle Endeavour left California this morning
riding piggy-back to Florida on a modified Boeing 747.
NASA released an image of the pair at takeoff, which
occurred at 7 a.m. PST (10 a.m. EST), just after the sun rose over the West
Coast.
The shuttle landed at
Edwards Air Force Base Nov. 30 after bad weather in Florida forced a
diversion to the California back-up location. The 747 is taking Endeavour back
to the Kennedy
Space Center.
The 747, called a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, and Endeavour
are expected at NASA's Kennedy Space Center as early as Thursday afternoon, but
Friday also is a possibility, the agency said in a statement. The exact timing
and route depend on weather conditions along the way. The shuttle/aircraft
combo is enroute to Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso, Texas.
The flight will cost about $1.8 million. The effort is not
expected to have an impact on NASA's scheduled shuttle flights during 2009,
including a planned May mission to work
on the Hubble Space Telescope.
The 16-day shuttle
mission to the International Space Station upgraded and serviced the
orbiting outpost.
The mission, which came during the 10th anniversary of the
space station, included the 200th U.S. spacewalk. Astronauts added two new
sleep stations to the ISS, a new galley with a refrigerator, and a water and
urine recycling system and an advanced resistive exercise device.
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