White Sands Space Harbor

Last updated
White Sands Space Harbor
STS-3 landing.jpg
Summary
Airport typeMilitary
OwnerUS Air Force
Operator NASA
Serves White Sands Test Facility
Location White Sands Missile Range
Elevation  AMSL 3,913 ft / 1,192 m
Coordinates 32°56′35.67″N106°25′10.31″W / 32.9432417°N 106.4195306°W / 32.9432417; -106.4195306
Map
Usa edcp location map.svg
Airplane silhouette.svg
White Sands Space Harbor
Location in USA
White Sands Space Harbor
Runways
Direction LengthSurface
ftm
17/3535,00010,700Dry lakebed
5/2335,00010,700Dry lakebed
2/2012,8003,900Dry lakebed

White Sands Space Harbor (WSSH) is a spaceport in New Mexico that was formerly used as a Space Shuttle runway, a test site for rocket research, and the primary training area used by NASA for Space Shuttle pilots practicing approaches and landings in the Shuttle Training Aircraft and T-38 Talon aircraft. With its runways, navigational aids, runway lighting, and control facilities, it also served as a backup Shuttle landing site. [1] WSSH is a part of the White Sands Test Facility, and is located approximately 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Alamogordo, New Mexico, within the boundaries of the White Sands Missile Range.

Contents

Runway facilities

In 1976, NASA selected Northrup Strip as the site for shuttle pilot training. A second runway was added crossing the original north-south landing strip, and in 1979 both lakebed runways were lengthened to 35,000 ft (10,668 m), which includes 15,000 ft (4,572 m) usable runway with 10,000 ft (3048 m) extensions on either end, to allow White Sands Space Harbor to serve as shuttle backup landing facility. While the Space Harbor was activated as a backup landing site for STS-116 due to poor weather conditions at both Edwards Air Force Base (high cross-winds) and Kennedy Space Center (clouds and rain), White Sands was only used for one landing of the Space Shuttle, that of the Space Shuttle Columbia on March 30, 1982, for STS-3. [2]

Boeing's Starliner Calypso returned from a 49-hour Orbital Test Flight at 12:57 UTC on December 22, 2019. This marked only the second time an orbital vehicle has returned to Earth at White Sands.

Launch complex

The McDonnell Douglas DC-X of the USAF Single Stage Rocket Technology (SSRT) program was launched 1993-96 at the harbor. [3] [4]

Landing history

No.DateFlightSpacecraftLanding siteResult
130 March 1982 STS-3 Space Shuttle Columbia Runway 17Success
222 December 2019 Boeing Orbital Flight Test Boeing Starliner   Calypso Success
325 May 2022 Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2 Boeing Starliner   Spacecraft 2 Success
47 September 2024 Boeing Crew Flight Test Boeing Starliner   Calypso Success

References

  1. ↑ "White Sands Space Harbor". NASA. Archived from the original on 2013-08-30. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  2. ↑ "White Sands Space Harbor - Capabilities". NASA. Archived from the original on 2013-06-14. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  3. ↑ "DC-X". Archived from the original on 2012-12-28. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  4. ↑ Delta-Clipper-1993-White-Sands-Xenon.mov on YouTube

32°56′35.67″N106°25′10.31″W / 32.9432417°N 106.4195306°W / 32.9432417; -106.4195306

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