WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia - riding piggyback atop a modified 747 jet called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft - arrives at Kennedy Space Center after a two-day journey from the Dryden Flight Research Center in California. Welcomed home by a crowd of KSC employees and their families and guests, Columbia touched down on the Shuttle Landing Facility at 11:23 a.m. Tuesday, two weeks after its return to Earth from the first Space Shuttle flight into space. The orbiter and SCA are seen here parked in front of the Mate/Demate Device, where the orbiter will be hoisted off the 747.