List of Space Shuttle landing sites

Three locations in the United States were used as landing sites for the Space Shuttle system. Each site included runways of sufficient length for the slowing-down of a returning spacecraft. The prime landing site was the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a purpose-built landing strip. Landings also occurred at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and one took place at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. No Space Shuttle landed on a dry lakebed runway after 1991.

Various international landing sites were also available in the event of a Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) scenario, as well as other sites in the United States and Canada in case of an East Coast Abort Landing (ECAL) situation. ^[1] Space Shuttle landings were intended to regularly take place at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for Department of Defense missions launched from the site, but none occurred due to the cancellation of all launches from Vandenberg.

Kennedy Space Center

Main article: Shuttle Landing Facility

Discovery lands at Kennedy Space Center for the last time, March 2011

The Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida has a single 15,000-foot (4,600 m) concrete runway, 15/33. ^[2] 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, ^[3] 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. ^[4]

Runway	Surface material	Missions landed [5]
Runway 15	Concrete	36 missions: STS-41-B, STS-51-A, STS-51-C, STS-43, STS-51, STS-60, STS-63, STS-71, STS-72, STS-79, STS-82, STS-86, STS-89, STS-91, STS-88, STS-96, STS-101, STS-106, STS-97, STS-102, STS-104, STS-105, STS-108, STS-121, STS-116, STS-118, STS-122, STS-123, STS-124, STS-119, STS-127, STS-130,STS-133, STS-134 and STS-135
Runway 33	Concrete	42 missions: STS-41-G, STS-51-D, STS-38, STS-45, STS-50, STS-46, STS-47, STS-52, STS-54, STS-56, STS-57, STS-61, STS-60, STS-62, STS-65, STS-70, STS-69, STS-73, STS-74, STS-75, STS-77, STS-78, STS-80, STS-81, STS-83, STS-84, STS-94, STS-85, STS-87, STS-90, STS-95, STS-93, STS-103, STS-99, STS-109, STS-110, STS-112, STS-113, STS-115, STS-120, STS-129, STS-131, and STS-132

Edwards Air Force Base

ALT-16 comes to an end as Enterprise lands on runway 04 at Edwards AFB

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, ^[6] 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). ^[7] Five ALT free flights and fifty-four operational Space Shuttle missions landed on Edwards Air Force Base runways, making a total of fifty-nine. ^[8]

Runway	Surface material	Missions landed [5]
Runway 05	Dry lakebed	1 mission (STS-44)
Runway 23	Dry lakebed	8 missions (STS-1, STS-2, STS-51-G, STS-51-F, STS-51-I, STS-51-J, STS-34 and STS-36)
Runway 15	Dry lakebed	2 missions: ALT-14 and STS-7
Runway 33	Dry lakebed	1 mission: STS-37
Runway 17	Dry lakebed	11 missions: ALT-12, ALT-13, ALT-15, STS-9, STS-41-C, STS-41-D, STS-51-B, STS-61-A, STS-26, STS-27 and STS-28
Runway 35	Dry lakebed	(none)
Runway 04	Concrete	3 missions: ALT-16, STS-33, STS-64
Runway 22	Concrete	32 missions: STS-4, STS-5, STS-6, STS-8, STS-61-B, STS-61-C, STS-29, STS-30, STS-32, STS-31, STS-41, STS-35, STS-40, STS-48, STS-42, STS-49, STS-53, STS-55, STS-58, STS-59, STS-68, STS-66, STS-67, STS-76, STS-92, STS-98, STS-100, STS-111, STS-114, STS-117, STS-125 and STS-128
Runway 04 (Temporary)	Asphalt	1 mission: STS-126

White Sands

Columbia (STS-3) landing on Northrop Strip at White Sands Space Harbor, 30 March 1982, flanked by two T-38 chase planes

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 35,000 feet (11,000 m) runways and a 12,800-foot (3,900 m) runway were available for landings on the dry lake bed. ^[9] One mission, STS-3, used Runway 17 for a landing due to flooding at its originally planned landing site, Edwards Air Force Base.

Runway	Surface material	Missions landed [10]
Runway 17	Dry lakebed	STS-3

Transoceanic abort landing sites

In the event of an abort during launch, NASA had several international locations designated as transoceanic abort landing (TAL) sites. The sites included Naval Air Station Bermuda, Lajes Air Base in Terceira island, Azores, Portugal, Zaragoza Air Base in Spain, Morón Air Base in Spain, and Istres Air Base in France. ^[11] 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. ^[12] Zaragoza Air Base features Runway 30L with a length of 12,109 ft (3,691 m); ^[13] Morón Air Base features an 11,800 ft (3,600 m) runway; ^[14] and Istres Air Base features Runway 33 with a length of 12,303 ft (3,750 m). ^[15] Former TAL sites include Diego Garcia in the British Indian Ocean Territory; Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany; Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco (1988–2002); ^[16] Casablanca, Morocco (up to 1986); ^[16] Banjul International Airport, The Gambia (1987–2002); ^[17] Dakar, Senegal; Rota, Spain; and Kano, Nigeria. ^[18] Had a TAL situation arisen during a launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Hao and Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean would have been the TAL sites, as would Andersen AFB, Guam with one of the longest concrete runways in the world. ^{[19] [20]}

RAF Fairford was the only transoceanic abort landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK. As well as having a sufficiently long runway for a Shuttle landing (the runway is 3 km long), Fairford also had NASA-trained fire and medical crews stationed on the base. ^[21]

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: ^[22]

Landing Site	Location	Country
Miami International Airport	Miami, Florida	United States
Plattsburgh International Airport	Plattsburgh, New York	United States
Francis S. Gabreski Airport	Westhampton Beach, New York [23]	United States
Atlantic City International Airport	Atlantic City, New Jersey [24]	United States
Myrtle Beach International Airport	Myrtle Beach, South Carolina [25]	United States
Wilmington International Airport	Wilmington, North Carolina	United States
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point	North Carolina [23]	United States
Naval Air Station Oceana	Virginia [23]	United States
Dover Air Force Base	Delaware [23]	United States
Bangor International Airport	Bangor, Maine [26]	United States
Loring Air Force Base	Limestone, Maine [27]	United States
Otis Air National Guard Base	Massachusetts [23]	United States
Westover Air Reserve Base	Massachusetts [28]	United States
Bradley International Airport	Connecticut	United States
Pease Air National Guard Base	Portsmouth, New Hampshire [23]	United States
Halifax Stanfield International Airport	Enfield, Nova Scotia [29]	Canada
Stephenville International Airport	Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador [29]	Canada
CFB Goose Bay	Newfoundland and Labrador [29]	Canada
Gander International Airport	Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador [29]	Canada
St. John's International Airport	St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador [29]	Canada

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. ^{[30] [31]} The runway was lengthened to support shuttle landings. ^[32] 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. ^[33] No space shuttle operations or landings ever occurred at the site. ^[34]

Other 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. ^{[35] [36] [37]} 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.^{[ citation needed ]}

Emergency Landing Sites

Algeria

Aguenar – Hadj Bey Akhamok Airport, Tamanrasset

Australia

Kingsford-Smith International Airport, Sydney, New South Wales (until 1986) RAAF Base Amberley, Ipswich, Queensland RAAF Base Darwin, Darwin, Northern Territory RAAF Base Pearce, Perth, Western Australia

Bahamas

Lynden Pindling International Airport, Nassau

Bermuda

NAS Bermuda, St. David's Island

Canada

CFB Goose Bay, Goose Bay, Labrador CFB Namao, Edmonton, Alberta (until 1994) Gander International Airport, Gander, Newfoundland Stephenville International Airport, Stephenville, Newfoundland St. John's International Airport, St. John's, Newfoundland Halifax Stanfield International Airport, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Cape Verde

Amílcar Cabral International Airport, Sal Island

Chile

Mataveri International Airport, Easter Island

Democratic Republic of the Congo

N'djili Airport, Kinshasa (until 1997)

France

Istres-Le Tubé Air Base near Istres, France Hao Airport, Hao, French Polynesia

The Gambia

Yundum International Airport, Banjul

Germany

Köln Bonn Airport, Cologne Ingolstadt Manching Airport, Ingolstadt

Greece

Souda Air Base, Souda Bay, Crete

Iceland

Keflavík International Airport, Keflavík Ireland

Shannon International Airport, Shannon, County Clare

Liberia

Roberts International Airport, Monrovia (until 1989)

Morocco

Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco (1988-2002) Mohammed V International Airport, Morocco (until 1986)

Portugal

Lajes Field, Lajes Beja Airbase, Beja

Saudi Arabia

King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh

Spain

Zaragoza Air Base Morón Air Base Gran Canaria Airport, Gran Canaria

Somalia

Berbera Airport, Berbera (inactive since 1991)

South Africa

South African Air Force Base Hoedspruit

Sweden

Arlanda Airport, Stockholm

Turkey

Esenboğa International Airport, Ankara

United Kingdom

RAF Greenham Common, Berkshire, England (from 1981) RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, England RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, England RAF Finningley, South Yorkshire, England (until 1996) RAF Machrihanish, Campbeltown, Scotland RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, England RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, England (until 1993)

British Overseas Territories

NAF Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory

United States

Andersen Air Force Base, Guam Atlantic City International Airport, Pomona, New Jersey Bangor International Airport, Bangor, Maine MCAS Cherry Point, Havelock, North Carolina Columbus Air Force Base, Columbus, Mississippi Dover Air Force Base, Dover, Delaware Dyess Air Force Base, Abilene, Texas East Texas Regional Airport, Longview, Texas Edwards Air Force Base, California Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid City, South Dakota Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, Alaska Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Sierra Vista, Arizona Francis S. Gabreski Airport, Long Island, New York Grant County International Airport, Moses Lake, Washington Grand Forks Air Force Base, Grand Forks, North Dakota Griffiss International Airport, Rome, New York Grissom Air Force Base, Kokomo, Indiana Hickam Air Force Base, Honolulu, Hawaii John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, New York Lehigh Valley International Airport, Allentown, Pennsylvania Lincoln Airport, Lincoln, Nebraska Mountain Home Air Force Base, Mountain Home, Idaho Myrtle Beach International Airport, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Orlando International Airport, Orlando, Florida Otis Air National Guard Base, Falmouth, Massachusetts Pease Air Force Base, Portsmouth, New Hampshire Plattsburgh Air Force Base, Plattsburgh, New York Portsmouth International Airport, Portsmouth, New Hampshire Stewart Air National Guard Base, Newburgh, New York Westover Air Force Base, Chicopee, Massachusetts White Sands Space Harbor, White Sands, New Mexico Wilmington International Airport, Wilmington, North Carolina Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio

See also

• Space Shuttle emergency landing sites

References

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External links

• Shuttle Landing Facility Archived 27 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine
• Edwards Air Force Base
• Space Shuttle Worldwide Landing Sites