Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: Re: "WHADDYA MEAN WE CAN'T CIRCLE FOR A LANDING???!!"
Message-ID: <3803@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-Apr-84 16:18:55 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.3803
Posted: Fri Apr 27 16:18:55 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Apr-84 16:18:55 EST
References: <160@sb6.UUCP>, <1686@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 24

Barry Margolin comments:

    ..........................................  Finally, in an extreme
    emergency, I have heard a rumor that it is possible to land the shuttle
    on some ordinary runways (like Kennedy Int'l in NYC, although they would
    probably choose a military airport); one problem with this would be that
    they would have to erect a crane there in order to mount the shuttle on
    the 747 to bring it back to the Cape.

It's not that bad.  The Shuttle is capable of landing on any decent
runway, although it helps if the right navigational aids are available.
Just about any 747-capable airport would suffice, and lesser ones would
probably be OK in a pinch.

You actually need two cranes to hoist the shuttle onto a 747.  One is
a standard commercial heavy crane; the other is a special beastie that
NASA keeps on hand just in case.  (It was originally used for hoisting
what is now Challenger for static tests at Marshall, and was deliberately
kept around in case of a shuttle recovery at an unplanned site.)  You
need two cranes, not because of the mass, but because both the shuttle
and the 747 have wings which get in the way.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry