An image from 1977 of the first shuttle to ride a jumbo. Photograph: Nasa</small
Bad weather above Florida has made for yet another hitch in the plan for Discovery's shuttle mission. First its lift off was delayed, then an astronaut armed with an improvised hacksaw had to spacewalk to make in-flight repairs and, we hope finally, the shuttle will be landing at the Edwards air base in California.
Nasa prefers the shuttles to land at the launch site in Florida for one good reason – the cost of sending a shuttle from the west coast to the east is around $1m (£560,000). But for those who do not have to worry about the US space budget it will provide the intriguing sight of a shuttle riding on the back of a modified jumbo jet. With the 1970s technology of the shuttle already looking worn out, the embarrassing limp home will no doubt provide further fodder for those who argue the thinking behind a "resuable" space plane had too many flaws. Rather than shuttles, the next generation of orbiters could be traditional rockets.
