KSC-2009-3460

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At Edwards Air Force Base in California, space shuttle Atlantis is lowered from the mate/demate device toward the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, beneath it. Atlantis will be bolted to the SCA for a piggyback flight to Florida. A tail cone, which protects the aft engine area and provides a more efficient aeronautical dimension during its piggyback flight, can be seen. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky