Destiny Awaken

Image above: Mounted atop its modified 747 carrier aircraft, space shuttle Atlantis took off from Edwards Air Force Base at 11:06 a.m. EDT on Monday, June 1, for the first leg of its cross country trip to back to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image credit: NASA TV

Cross-country Trip to Continue on Tuesday

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:42:02 PM EDT

Space shuttle Atlantis will continue its cross-country trip to Florida Tuesday, June 2. Departure from Biggs Army Air Field, in El Paso, Texas is planned for 7:40 a.m. EDT (5:40 a.m. MDT). A weather briefing will be held at 5:30 a.m. EDT (3:30 a.m. MDT) to determined the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft's route. Weather permitting, Atlantis could be back at its Florida home Tuesday night.

Atlantis Heads Home; Endeavour Up Next

Space shuttle Atlantis is on its way to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a modified 747 jet known as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on May 24, completing mission STS-125, a 13-day journey of approximately 5.3 million miles in space.

With Atlantis safely on Earth and the seven STS-125 astronauts back at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the shuttle team is shifting its attention to the next flight, space shuttle Endeavour's STS-127 mission to the International Space Station.

Endeavour is in place at Launch Pad 39A, setting the stage for this week's terminal countdown demonstration test. The STS-127 payload, the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility and Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section, is already at Launch Pad 39A and will be installed in Endeavour after the shuttle arrives at the pad. Liftoff is targeted for June 13.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html