Jaime / Don,
Well, I'm no chauffer for Jerry Clower (or for Professor Dye either), but Yes, the 747/Shuttle combo can be ferried back from Europe after a Trans-atlantic Abort Landing (TAL), but the ferry operations are MUCH more difficult to accomplish.
Basically, the distances between possible refueling stops dictate that the Orbiter's weight be reduced. (presummably to permit more fuel weight to be loaded onto the aircraft) Depending on the payload for that particular mission, the amount of time & effort to get the orbiter's weight down can be considerable. You may have to remove things like the primary payload, the 3 main engines, crew-seats, wheel brakes, tires, all unused consummables, such as propellants, etc. etc. Basically, the recovery crew from here at Kennedy can plan to spend at least a month or two at the overseas landing site prepping the Shuttle for return.
This flight had a landing weight of around 221,980 lbs. Some of that weight got removed at EDW AFB (i.e. flight-crew equipment, mid-deck lockers . . . astronauts) However, some weight was added back for the ferry flight, such as the large tail-cone assembly & some ballast. Not sure what the final ferry weight turned out to be, but the large pressurized logistics module is still in the payload bay.
One reference I found says:
"Certain weight reductions (to orbiter weight of 217,000 pounds) may be required for a ferry flight from Spain or France; this is particularly true if an attempt is made to avoid the northern route through Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, and Canada during certain winter months when extremes of weather and very short daylight periods occur."
There are some really smart folks who work mass-properties & do the weight & CG calculations for each ferry flight configuration. They would tell us how extreme the weight reductions would need to be in order to make a trans-atlantic ferry possible.
Maybe we'll see Endeavour here at KSC late tomorrow!
BTW, I love that Jerry Clower joke
The 747 carrying the shuttle landed in Ft Worth yesterday, and is departing this morning for barksdale AFB. I was going to post this in the Texas Forum, but figured some of you LA guys might want to sneek a peek of it coming in... Here it is siting at KNFW, and here is the flight plan...
