KSC01pp0509

This is a closer view of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft with orbiter Columbia riding piggyback as the SCA taxis toward the mate/demate device at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility. At the MDD, Columbia will be lifted off the SCA and towed to the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1. Columbia’s ferry flight began in California March 1. Unfavorable weather conditions kept it on the ground at Dyess AFB, Texas, until it could return to Florida. It landed temporarily at the CCAFS Skid Strip until Atlantis, which had already landed at the SLF, could be transferred. Columbia is returning from a 17-month-long modification and refurbishment process as part of a routine maintenance plan. The orbiter will next fly on mission STS-107, scheduled Oct. 25