COMMENTATOR And Discovery now
on take off roll, atop a 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft,
just about to begin the first leg of its return back to the Kennedy Space Center.
And the ferry flight of Discovery underway,
the first stop again planned to be Altus Air Force Base in South Western Oklahoma.
It's about a 3-hour trip from, from California to Altus Air Force Base
It would be a refueling stop, weather permitting,
a couple of hour refueling stop
and then the next leg will take Discovery from Altus Air Force Base to an overnight stopover at Barksdale Air force Base in Central Western Louisiana.
The actual, the operational altitude for a ferry flight with a shuttle on its back is 15,000 feet.
The 747 actually is led by about a 100 miles out in front by a KC-135 aircraft which basically flies weather reconnaissance.