KSC-2012-5345

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a pathfinder aircraft, in the foreground, prepares to take off. The pathfinder will fly ahead of NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, with the space shuttle Endeavour mounted atop, also preparing to taxi away from the mate-demate device for its ferry flight to California. The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era. For more information on the shuttles' transition and retirement, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett