CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle managers are hoping to have Endeavour on its way back to Florida on Tuesday.
The shuttle could come back to Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.
Endeavour ended its 12-day construction mission to space station Alpha last Tuesday. The seven men on board helped install a $900 million robotic arm to the outside of the station. They also unloaded 4,000 pounds of supplies for the station crew.
The shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., because weather in Florida did not look promising for a safe landing all week. So now, NASA will spend an estimated $1 million to get the shuttle back to the space center.
For its return flight, Endeavour will ride on the back of a Boeing 747 airplane. The pair are expected to take off Tuesday and then refuel at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas.
"They're really doing quite well because the weather's good out here," said Alan Brown, spokesman for Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards.
If good weather prevails, the aircraft will stay overnight at Eglin Air Force Base near Ft. Walton Beach.
Frequently, the pilots fly the pair low over Brevard County's beaches before touching down on the landing strip. That, too, depends on the weather and available daylight.
Three of the last five shuttle missions have ended at Edwards instead of KSC. The shuttle is more like a glider than an airplane when it is landing. It cannot circle the runway, waiting for skies to clear. So NASA likes to have a good forecast before they let the shuttle fire its engines to re-enter the atmosphere.
On Saturday, workers wearing protective suits and self-contained breathing devices drained all toxic fluids from the shuttle. The process takes about 18 hours.
"That's the biggie," Brown said.
Then on Sunday, Endeavour was placed on the back of its carrier aircraft.
After its return to KSC, workers will begin preparing the shuttle for a flight to carry science experiments to the International Space Station on Nov. 1.
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