User blog comment:The Milkman/Extended Expectations, Part II/@comment-1441235-20120629062602/@comment-1441235-20120629234641

I'd have to go back and replay through ME2 again to see exactly where it was stated, but I specifically remember EDI saying that the Normandy was provided a transport specifically because it couldn't "land" in-atmosphere like the SR-1 could because of it's increased mass. The SR-1 couldn't land in the conventional sense either, at least as far as we ever saw. The closest it ever came was floating above the bay when you meet up with Kirrahe and his men. If the SR-2 could do the same thing, why the hubbub about the shuttle?