Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!skipper!shafer From: shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Shuttle question Message-ID: Date: 26 Nov 90 16:01:34 GMT References: <3795@cuisun.unige.ch> <40040@ut-emx.uucp> <37200@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <1990Nov26.032232.14814@athena.mit.edu> Sender: shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov Organization: NASA Dryden, Edwards, Cal. Lines: 40 In-reply-to: cabruen@e40-008-11.MIT.EDU's message of 26 Nov 90 03:22:32 GMT Shuttle landing sites: Primary sites are KSC, Edwards, and White Sands. KSC (Kennedy Space Center, Florida) has a 15,000' x 300' ft runway (same size as Edwards AFB) and is the designated landing site for RTLS (Return To Launch Site) situations. It was intended to be the primary landing site. However, the unpredictibility of the weather means that a rainstorm could suddenly appear that would ruin the Shuttle's tiles. Braking problems have also contributed to its being designated a backup site. Edwards AFB, California, is currently the primary landing site, mostly because our weather is very predictable and virtually rainless (alas!). We also have a large lakebed that the Shuttle can land on in a variety of directions, to reduce the problems of crosswinds. The lakebed runways have higher friction than the paved runway, which helps the braking problems. Northrop Field, White Sands, New Mexico, is another backup site--the least favored in the US. Same big runway, but the gypsite gets in everything and they have to spend eons cleaning it. The Shuttle landed there once (STS-3, I think) and will not voluntarily be landed there again. Abort sites for problems during launch include Rota, Dakar, and some others I can't remember. These are _solely_ for getting the Shuttle down in some sort of good condition. Dakar, for example, has a cliff at the end of the runway, but the brakes are probably good enough. These sites are usually international airports that can take 747s, etc, or military airports that can take C-5s and the runways are at least 10,000 ft. When the program first started, there were a lot more contingency sites, but improvements in cross range have made Edwards reachable. -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all"--Unknown US fighter pilot