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| Endeavour shown here atop a modified Boeing 747 in anticipation of its upcoming ferry flight. |
Endeavour – the last NASA shuttle ever constructed – is slated to journey to a new home this week, as it prepares to leave Kennedy Space Center aboard a modified Boeing 747 and head toward Los Angeles, California.
After a series of delays due to anticipated thunderstorms along Endeavour’s route, the scheduled ferry flight has been pushed back to a Wednesday morning sunrise takeoff.
NASA officials say they are currently discussing how the delays will affect Endeavour’s flight plan, which was originally slated to include a stop in Houston ahead of a Thursday arrival in L.A. The space shuttle is now expected to arrive on Friday.
Built to replace Challenger after the tragic loss of the shuttle in 1986, Endeavour made a total of 25 missions before its retirement in the spring of last year. During those missions, the shuttle covered 122,883,151 miles, spent 299 days in orbit and accomplished a number of major milestones, including the delivery of the first American-made component to the International Space Station and the flight of the first African-American female astronaut into space.
