CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) --
A jumbo jet carrying the space shuttle Atlantis landed Tuesday at Kennedy Space
Center after a trip that began in California.
A modified Boeing 747 with
the shuttle mounted on its back touched
down on the shuttle landing strip around 8:25 a.m. EDT (1225 GMT) after
taking off from a refueling stop in Kentucky.
The jet made several stops
on its cross-country trip. On Monday, it landed in Fort Campbell, Ky., after
stops at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska and Amarillo, Texas.
Atlantis, carrying seven
astronauts, landed
June 22 at Edwards Air Force Base in California after a 14-day
construction mission at the international space station.
Bad weather at the Florida
launch site forced NASA to divert to the shuttle's alternate landing site in
California. NASA prefers to land shuttles in Florida to avoid the more than
$1.7 million price tag to transport them back.
The vehicle will be cleaned
and refurbished before being readied for its next trip, scheduled for December.
The next scheduled mission will send Endeavour
to the space station on Aug. 7.
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