Space shuttle Atlantis returns home to NASA's Kennedy Space Center secured atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft or SCA.

After a two-day trip from California, space shuttle Atlantis returns home to NASA's Kennedy Space Center secured atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA. Touchdown on runway 15 at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility was at 6:53 p.m. EDT. The SCA is a modified Boeing 747 jetliner. Atlantis returned from California atop the SCA after its May 24 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding mission STS-125. The ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base began June 1. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009.

Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller