Shuttle Landing Facility

Shuttle Landing Facility
Shuttle Landing Facility
Shuttle Landing Facility.jpg
IATA: TTSICAO: KTTSFAA LID: TTS
Summary
Airport type Private
Owner National Aeronautics & Space Administration
Location Merritt Island, Florida
Elevation AMSL 10 ft / 3 m
Coordinates 28°36′54″N 80°41′40″W / 28.615°N 80.6945°W / 28.615; -80.6945Coordinates: 28°36′54″N 80°41′40″W / 28.615°N 80.6945°W / 28.615; -80.6945
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
15/33 15,000 4,572 Concrete

The Shuttle Landing Facility (IATA: TTSICAO: KTTSFAA LID: TTS) is an airport located on Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, USA. It is a part of the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and was used by NASA's Space Shuttle for landing until the program's end in 2011, as well as for takeoffs and landings for NASA training jets and civilian aircraft, such as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.[1][2]

Contents

Facilities

Space Shuttle Atlantis landing after STS-122.
The Mate-Demate Device at the Shuttle Landing Facility.

The Shuttle Landing Facility covers 500 acres (200 ha) and has a single runway, 15/33. It is one of the longest runways in the world, at 4,572 m (15,000 ft), and is 91.4 meters (300 ft) wide.[1] Additionally, the SLF has 305 meters (1,000 ft) of paved overruns at each end.[1] The Mate-Demate Device (MDD), for use when the shuttle is transported by the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, is located just off the runway.[1]

The runway is designated runway 15, or 33, depending on the direction of use. The runway surface consists of an extremely high-friction concrete strip designed to maximize the braking ability of the Space Shuttle at its high landing speed, with a paving thickness of 40.6 cm (16.0 in) at the center.[1] It uses a grooved design to provide drainage, and further increase the coefficient of friction.[1] The original groove design was found to actually provide too much friction for the rubber used in the Shuttle's tires, causing failures during several landings. This issue was resolved by grinding down the pavement, reducing the depth of the grooves significantly.

The runway was first used by a Space Shuttle on 11 February 1984, when the STS-41-B mission returned to Earth. This also marked the first-ever landing of a spacecraft at its launch site. Prior to this, all shuttle landings were performed at Edwards Air Force Base in California (with the exception of STS-3, which landed at White Sands Space Harbor) while the landing facility continued testing and shuttle crews developed landing skills at White Sands and Edwards, where the margin for error is much greater than SLF and its water hazards.[3]

A local nickname for the runway is the "gator tanning facility", as some of the 4,000 alligators living at Kennedy Space Center regularly bask in the sun on the runway.[4]

Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-127 landing video.

The landing facility is managed by contractor EG&G, which provides air traffic control services as well as managing potential hazards to landing aircraft, such as bird life. The Bird Team keeps the facility clear of both local and migratory birds during shuttle landings using pyrotechnics, blank rounds fired from shotguns and a series of 25 propane cannons arranged around the facility.[5]

Other users

The SLF has also been used by commercial users. Zero Gravity Corporation, which offers flights where passengers experience brief periods of microgravity, has operated from the SLF,[6] as have record-setting attempts by the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer.[7] NASCAR teams have also used the facility for vehicle testing.[8]

See also

  • List of space shuttle landing runways

References

External links



Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Shuttle Landing Facility — Shuttle Landing Facility …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Shuttle Landing Facility — 28° 36′ 54″ N 80° 41′ 40″ W / 28.615, 80.6945 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Shuttle Landing Facility — Atlantis aterrizando después del STS 122 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Shuttle Carrier Aircraft — NASA s Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 905 (front) and 911 …   Wikipedia

  • Shuttle Carrier Aircraft — Transbordador espacial Atlantis regresando al Kennedy Space Center en 1998. Tipo Avión de transporte de carg …   Wikipedia Español

  • Shuttle Training Aircraft — infobox Aircraft name = C 11A Shuttle Training Aircraft type = Advanced trainer manufacturer = Grumman thumb|center caption = designer = first flight = introduced = retired = status = Operational primary user = NASA more users = produced = number …   Wikipedia

  • Shuttle (game) — Infobox VG|title = Shuttle developer = Vektor Grafix publisher = Virgin Games released = 1992 genre = Flight simulator modes = Single player ratings = platforms = IBM PC Amiga Atari ST media = floppy disk requirements = input = Keyboard Shuttle… …   Wikipedia

  • Landing — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Sommaire 1 Histoire 2 Militaire 3 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Space Shuttle — STS redirects here. For other uses, see STS (disambiguation). This article is about the NASA Space Transportation System vehicle. For the associated NASA STS program, see Space Shuttle program. For other shuttles and aerospace vehicles, see… …   Wikipedia

  • Space Shuttle program — This article is about the United States Space Shuttle program. For the shuttle itself, see Space Shuttle. For information on the Soviet space shuttle program, see the article Buran program. Space Shuttle program Duration 1981 2011 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”