KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida -- Secured atop NASA's modified 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, space shuttle
Endeavour is headed west after a 7:22 a.m. EDT departure from Kennedy
Space Center in Florida. The early-morning takeoff marked the beginning
of the final ferry flight of the Space Shuttle Program.
The
flight path will take the aircraft to the northwest, across the Florida
panhandle and toward Houston after low-level passes over NASA's Stennis
Space Center in southwest Mississippi and Michoud Assembly Facility east
of New Orleans.
Arriving in the Houston area at approximately 9
a.m. CDT, the SCA crew will initiate a 1,500 flyover of various areas of
the city, including downtown, before heading to the Clear Lake area.
The SCA and Endeavour are predicted to land at Ellington Field at about
10:45 a.m. CDT.
The SCA/Endeavour will depart at dawn on Thursday
and make a fueling stop at Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso before
proceeding to Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base,
California. On Friday it will depart Dryden for a flyover of northern
California and areas of the Los Angeles basin before landing at LAX
between 11 a.m. and noon PDT. In October, Endeavour will move to the
California Science Center to begin a new mission inspiring future
explorers.
