Shuttle Atlantis (FilePhoto)

Photo Gallery>>>BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Carried by a jumbo jet, shuttle Atlantis took off its return trip to Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, and it should arrive there on Monday, according to NASA officials.

Hugging the back of a specially made 747, Atlantis touched down at Offutt Air Force Base around 2:45 p.m. after stormy weather across the South blocked a more direct route from California back to Kennedy Space Center.

The 747 approached the runway slowly, the shuttle perched heavily on its back. After its wheels touched down, the aircraft's thunderous engines engaged to slow down the plane and its massive cargo.

NASA would have preferred to land the shuttle at its Kennedy Space Center to save the time and expense of piggybacking the 100-tonne spaceship back across country on a specially modified Boeing 747 jet carrier.

But bad weather forced the U.S. space agency to use the shuttle's backup landing strip in California's Mojave Desert.

Atlantis, carrying seven astronauts, landed June 22 after a 14-day mission, mission STS-117, to continue building the international space station.

This mission is the U.S. Space Shuttle Program's 21st mission to the space station. The crew of Atlantis delivered new additions to the International Space Station's truss system and made four spacewalks during the 14-day mission.

As this year's first shuttle flight, Atlantis was originally planned to leave for the ISS on March 15, but the launch was canceled after a freak storm pelted the orbiter's foam-covered fuel tank with golf ball-sized hail.

(Agencies)