NASA's Pathfinder Aircraft Tracks Weather for Ferry Flight

Space shuttle Discovery returned to NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 21 perched on top of a modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet. But it wasn't an ordinary cross-country piggyback journey.In fact, the two-day ferry flight from California proved to be one of the greatest tests ever for the NASA C-9 "pathfinder" aircraft that scouts safe routes ahead of the shuttle."This shuttle return is the biggest