List of Space Shuttle landing sites

Kennedy Space Center

Main article: Shuttle Landing Facility

The Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida has a single 15000 ft concrete runway, 15/33. It is designated Runway 15 or 33, depending on the direction of use. The first landing at the SLF was for mission STS-41B in 1984; landings were suspended at the site following brake damage and a blown tire during the STS-51D landing in 1985, and resumed in 1990. Thirty-six missions landed on Runway 15 and forty-two missions landed on Runway 33, accumulating a total of 78 missions.

Edwards Air Force Base

Edwards Air Force Base in California was the site of the first Space Shuttle landing and became a backup site to the prime landing location, the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center. Several runways are arrayed on the dry lakebed at Rogers Dry Lake, and there are also concrete runways. Space shuttle landings on the lake bed took place on Runways 05/23, 15/33 and 17/35. Of the concrete strips, the main Runway 04/22 was utilized. During the renovation of 04/22, a temporary runway (with the same designation) was constructed parallel to it and used for one landing (STS-126). Five ALT free flights and fifty-four operational Space Shuttle missions landed on Edwards Air Force Base runways, making a total of fifty-nine.

White Sands

White Sands Space Harbor at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico was an emergency landing site for the Space Shuttle and was used as a backup when the runways at Edwards Air Force Base and the Kennedy Space Center were unavailable. Two 35000 ft runways and a 12800 ft runway were available for landings on the dry lake bed. One mission, STS-3, used Runway 17 for a landing due to flooding at its originally planned landing site, Edwards Air Force Base.

Transoceanic abort landing sites

In the event of an abort during launch, NASA had several international locations designated as transoceanic abort landing (TAL) sites. All sites have runways of sufficient length to support the landing of a Space Shuttle, and included personnel from NASA as well as equipment to aid a space shuttle landing. The sites included:

• Naval Air Station Bermuda, Lajes Air Base in Terceira island, Azores, Portugal (Runway 30L is 12109 ft long)
• Zaragoza Air Base in Spain, Morón Air Base in Spain (with an 11800 ft runway)
• Istres Air Base in France (Runway 33 is12303 ft long)

Former TAL sites include:

• Diego Garcia in the British Indian Ocean Territory;
• Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany;
• Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco (1988–2002);
• Casablanca, Morocco (up to 1986);
• Banjul International Airport, The Gambia (1987–2002);
• Dakar, Senegal;
• Rota, Spain;
• Kano, Nigeria
• RAF Fairford, UK

Planned TAL sites for launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base, which did not end up happening:

• Hao and Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean
• Andersen AFB, Guam (with one of the longest concrete runways in the world)

East Coast abort landing sites

In certain launch abort situations where the mission profile supports a trajectory for such a landing, runways on the East Coast of the United States and Canada could have been used for an East Coast abort landing (ECAL) situation. The following sites could have been used for an ECAL:

Vandenberg Air Force Base

Space Shuttle missions to be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California were planned to conclude with a landing at Runway 12/30 at the site. The runway was lengthened to support shuttle landings. The first landing at Vandenberg was planned for mission STS-62-A, which was scheduled for launch in July 1986, but cancelled in the wake of the STS-51-L accident. No space shuttle operations or landings ever occurred at the site.

Other sites

Main article: Space Shuttle abort modes#Emergency landing sites

The joint use civilian/military Lincoln Airport/Lincoln Air National Guard Base in Lincoln, Nebraska was designated as an alternate landing site for its 12,900 ft (3,932 m) long main runway. Including 1000 ft over-runs on each end, the runway totaled almost 15,000 ft in length. The site also had low air traffic, both commercial and military. No space shuttle landing ever occurred there.

Amílcar Cabral International Airport on the island of Sal, Cape Verde, was another designated emergency landing site. Runway 01/19 at Amílcar Cabral International Airport is 10,735 ft long and is paved. No Space Shuttle landing occurred here either. Also Gran Canaria Airport was used as a back-up site.

The French Istres-Le Tubé Air Base was also another designated site.

References

References

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