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Space Shuttle X-Country Back to Florida

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Air 1

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 31, 2005
Posts
83
Anybody know where the stops are on this trip? I'm guessing its kept from the public. I saw online somewhere they make a large arch with the flight back, like going around through KC, STL, and BNA. Anyone know why they would they take this route? Looks like they'll try early Friday morning if they don't have any more delays.
 
I found a great article on the shuttle and it's 747 counter-part while searching for the information you were asking about.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/discover_plane_001122.html

Got a lot of great information about how it all goes down!

As for where its landing enroute, I know in the past it's landed in Offut AFB Nebraska, Davis-Mothan In Tucson, Fort Bliss, TX, and even DFW in 1989 after having to divert for weather. I would think it would all have to do with where the more favorable the weather was as to where it would stop over enroute. NASA tends to use only Air Force Bases as there stop-over points.
 
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Thanks for the website User997. That has a lot of interesting info about the trip. I would've thought they'd beef up the inside of the plane to carry the weight of the shuttle on top, but I guess not.
 
Yeah...probably weather dictated.

But they probably have a primary, with somebody backing them up, and somebody backing them up, and somebody backing them up, and somebody backing them up...and so on...and so forth...
 
I know for a fact they've stopped at KSPS before. Our 13k' runway helps, of course.
 
They've also landed at Ft. Campbell, KY, home of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division.
 
I've visited it in Houston at KEFD when it RON'd there before. It allowed the employees at Johnson Space Center to see it in person.
 
NEWSFLASH!!

I was talking to a Flight Service Briefer this morning for a VFR Cross Country, and I asked her specifically about whether or not they publish the route and if there was any flight restrictions around it when it does and lands.

She said it was scheduled to land at Altus AFB in Altus, Oklahoma this afternoon. She said there was no restrictions that she was aware of, and it'd been so long since she had last dealt with one, she didn't know whether or not to expect one.

She also mentioned that it had landed previously at Tinker AFB in OKC as well. (To keep the list going above.)
 

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