Space shuttle Endeavour is ready to be lifted away from the shuttle carrier aircraft or SCA.

Before dawn, at the Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour is ready to be lifted, via the sling attached, away from the shuttle carrier aircraft, or SCA, underneath. The SCA carried the shuttle piggyback from California, where Endeavour landed Nov. 30 to end the STS-126 mission. After Endeavour is on the ground, it will be towed via the two-mile tow-way from the SLF by a diesel-powered tractor to the Orbiter Processing Facility where it will begin preparations for its next mission, STS-127, targeted for May 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann