Space Shuttle Discovery hitched a ride on a special 747 carrier aircraft for the flight from California to the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on August 19. NASA photo by Lori Losey

Discovery's return home delayed

Ferry flight managers decided on Saturday morning, not to make an attempt to bring Discovery back to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday and that it would remain at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, through Saturday night.

It was determined that weather en route across Alabama, Georgia and Florida, and potential weather issues early this afternoon at Kennedy would violate the vehicle's stringent flight weather criteria.

NASA's specially modified 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, is positioned under the Space Shuttle Discovery to be attached for their ferry flight to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA photo by Carla Thomas)

Early Sunday morning, ferry flight managers will meet again and reassess the weather en route to the Space Center and establish the flight path.

The current plan calls for the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to depart Barksdale Sunday at about 7:25 a.m. EDT and touchdown at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility in central Florida at about 10 a.m. EDT.

A "pathfinder" KC-135 aircraft flies about 100 miles ahead of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and monitors the weather in the flight path for the 747's crew

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