Article Posted on : - Sep 22, 2009

One of NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft touches down Monday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida after bringing space shuttle Discovery back to its east coast home. The ferry flight began at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Sunday. Discovery landed in California on Sept. 11 to end the STS-128 mission. Image Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

NEW DELHI (BNS): Space shuttle Discovery returned to its Florida home on Monday courtesy of a NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:05 p.m. EDT, a NASA statement said.

Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on September 11 after poor weather materlialized over Kennedy. Stormy weather prevented the space shuttle from returning to its home base a week ago.

NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft are 747 airliners modified to hold the shuttle on its back. Discovery will be detached from the modified jumbo jet during the next 14-18 hours.

The shuttle will be towed to Orbiter Processing Facility-3 where the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo will be removed from the payload bay and the shuttle will be prepared for its next mission, STS-131.

During the two-week mission, Discovery and its crew delivered a fresh load of supplies to the international space station.