SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Space shuttle Endeavour was set Friday morning to make low, sweeping passes over the East Bay, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Sacramento and Los Angeles following a return to its California roots Thursday.
The shuttle, fixed atop a specially modified Boeing 747 jet, is on the last leg of a wistful cross-country journey that paid homage to NASA workers and former astronauts.
Endeavour swooped out of the desert sky and glided down a concrete runway at Edwards Air Force Base, 100 miles north of Los Angeles, not far from where the now-retired shuttle fleet was assembled.
The shuttle and jumbo jet were scheduled to take off again at sunrise Friday.
NASA’s Shuttle Carrier Aircraft with the space shuttle Endeavour mated on top is airborne after taking off from the Shuttle Landing Facility runway at NASA Kennedy Space Center on September 19, 2012 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Scott Andrews/NASA via Getty Images)
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