Will Remain In Kentucky Overnight

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 07.02.07 1430 EDT: One step closer to home... but still a bit further to go. The space shuttle Atlantis took off this morning atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft from Nebraska, for a refueling stop at Fort Campbell, KY.

NASA reports once the SCA was at Fort Campbell, the ferry flight crew received a weather briefing and a determination was made to remain there overnight. Atlantis could arrive back at Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday if weather conditions permit.

Weather has been a bane in NASA's plans for Atlantis, since the original launch was delayed in February after a hailstorm at KSC, which forced the space agency to delay the launch over three months in order to repair damage to the shuttle's external fuel tank.

Those repairs were successful, and the shuttle launched without a hitch June 8... only to see its return to Earth delayed due to problems with Russian computer systems onboard the International Space Station... and then, more meteorlogical difficulties. Thunderstorms in Florida posed problems for Atlantis' return to Earth, before NASA made the decision to land the shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base in California instead.

Original Report

Early Sunday morning, space shuttle Atlantis began its journey back to Kennedy Space Center "piggy-backed" on top of a modified Boeing 747 known as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

The enroute plan included an early Sunday morning refueling stop in Amarillo, TX -- a rare landing for the SCA on a commercial runway, noted the Associated Press -- and a stop overnight at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, NE to check the connections between the jumbo jet and the orbiter.

Crews are currently monitoring weather conditions between Offutt and Florida, to determine if conditions will hold the aircraft in Nebraska Monday. The anticipated arrival at the Kennedy Space Center will be no earlier than then, with a possibility of arriving at KSC Tuesday.

As ANN reported, Atlantis landed at Edwards, concluding a successful assembly mission to the International Space Station with Commander Rick Sturckow and Pilot Lee Archambault at the controls. Atlantis landed at 1549 pm EDT on June 22.

The STS-117 mission astronauts returned to Johnson Space Center on Saturday, June 23. Their return was marked by a traditional welcome home ceremony at Ellington Field in Houston.

The landing at AMA was a tribute of sorts for a fallen NASA astronaut. Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport is named for the commander of the final flight of the space shuttle Columbia. Husband, along with six others, perished when the spacecraft disintegrated during re-entry in February 2003.

(Photo courtesy of NASA/Carla Thomas)

FMI: www.nasa.gov/shuttle, Learn More About The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft