| The local paper (Hudson,MA,USA) reports that the use of Edwards was due to
a brake lock-up problem, causing near blow-outs of the shuttle's tires on
landing. When corrected (date unknown) landings will resume at the cape.
Carl
|
| Landings at the Cape are not feasible for a number of reasons frmm time
to time. Briefly, the most often problems are:
1 - As mentioned in the first response, high winds, bad weather. The
shuttle, like any other aircraft has to have an alternate landing
site if the weather conditions at the primary site are not
favorable. Due to the nature of the shuttle, the number of
potential landing sites is very small. and therefore Edwards, being
located significantly far away (thereby reducing the risk of bad
weather there also) is the logical choice. I say logical, because
unlike a "regular" plane, the shuttle must begin it's descent to
final while still on the other side of the world. This means that
the mechanics are a little bit more than pull the throttle and
glide. Edwards is a known, and all the right information for the
landing has already been calculated.
2 - The runway at the Cape is short! Ya, I know it's 15k feet, but
with that much mass on dead stick, you don't have any room for
mistakes. Consider the fact that when the shuttle is carrying
the space lab, it's gross weight is significant. Since it is not
possible to fly the shuttle slower, the laws of physics and such say
that below Vso *** IT AIN'T GONNA FLY ***, that leaves the stopping
up to the brakes. While 15k feet is a long way, when you have to
disapate that much energy, you need a lot more runway.
I too would prefer to see the shuttle landing at the Cape all the time,
but just like I always want to land my plane back at my home base,
sometimes you have to make adjustments.
Ken Roller
|
| As I remember from when I worked at the Cape, the main reason for shuttles
being waved off from landing or not being scheduled to land at KSC at all
was due to wet weather and winds. The winds were easy to get around. If
you are familiar with coastal meteorology, you'll know that lower atmosphere
cross winds are relatively calm in the very early morning (before 8:00 AM).
So, all shuttle landings at the Cape are scheduled just after dawn. This
presents the other main problem. In the early morning on a sub-tropical coast,
there is generally good cloud cover and upper atmospheric moisture. The
Shuttle, upon reentry, is very, very hot. The moisture gets in the cracks
between the tiles and reacts with the glue and fouls up the tiles. No body
wants to see the tiles falling off upon reentry for both the added cost of
replacement as well as the likelyhood of injury to the crew.
Several times we all got in real early to watch the landing and hear the
BOOM.....BOOM. I only remember 2 actually landing there and most were waved
off for another orbit and eventually a landing at Edwards due to cloudy
conditions.
This may cost a few extra dollars to piggy-back her back from CA, but if you've
ever stood under the orbiter and watched how much of a hassle it is to replace
just one tile (find one that's a perfect fit through variance testing) you'd
know what a major saving this is.
|
| Well, last I knew it was the tire blowout problem that was the
main reason they are *scheduling* landings at Edwards. Diverting
to Edwards is always a good idea if the Cape isn't ideal.
The tire problem is due the the way the shuttle steers when it is
on the ground. The nose wheel is fixed, so steering is done by
braking the wing wheels (brake the right one and the plane veers
to the right). This puts a lot of stress on the landing gear and
the tires (which apparently lock up now and then).
The fix is a steerable nose wheel, which is being retrofitted
into the shuttles.
Sounds like a cost-cutting measure that backfired...
- dave
|
| From: [email protected] (Mary Shafer (OFV))
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle,sci.space,sci.aeronautics,sci.astro
Subject: Viewing the Space Shuttle landing
Date: 20 Mar 90 21:12:31 GMT
Organization: NASA Dryden, Edwards, Cal.
There are four ways to see the Shuttle landing at Edwards AFB,
listed in order of restrictiveness of access.
1. The public viewing area on the lakebed. Take Hwy 14 to Avenue
F and follow the signs. This area is opened about 2 days
before the scheduled touchdown. The viewing area is an
unimproved area so don't expect many amenities. I think that
there are sanitary facilities and that food and drinks can be
purchased. It's suggested that you bring food and water
Nothing is required for access to this area. (I've never been
to this area, so I can't speak from personal knowledge.)
2. The hillside viewing area. This is on the hillside, just
above Ames-Dryden, and requires a special pass. This pass is
good for one vehicle, with any number of passengers. You
can't enter the Ames-Dryden complex but you can walk down the
hill to the cafeteria and the giftshop, etc. More amenities,
including radio transmissions from the Shuttle and JSC. Some
of us believe that this area has the BEST view of the landing.
These passes can be obtained by writing, as detailed below.
Ames-Dryden employees can also obtain them.
3. Official guest. Access to the Ames-Dryden complex. You get
to watch the landing from the ramp, which is right on the
lakebed. (The Shuttle lands some distance away, depending on
which runway it uses.) The crew speaks to the crowd just
before they return to JSC. There are special aircraft
displays (including the SR-71, F-15, F-18, X-29, etc.) in the
hangars. The radio transmissions are broadcast.
You can write, as detailed below, to obtain these badges and
parking permits. Employees are allotted one car pass and four
badges for family and friends.
4. Distinguished guest. As 3 above, with the viewing being done
from the complex roof. This group includes the families and
guests of the astronauts and notables (of a variety of
types--Dick Rutan was at a recent landing) in the aerospace
community, etc. These people are invited by NASA management
and the list is fairly small.
To obtain a hillside pass or official guest badges, write to:
NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility
Attn: Public Affairs Office
P.O. Box 273
Edwards, CA 92523-5000
Do this early, because there is a limited amount of space. If you
get these and then discover that you can't attend, please try to pass
them on to someone else who can use them. Incidently, there is NO
charge for any of these.
Come see the Shuttle land--it's great!
Mary Shafer [email protected] or ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer
NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
Of course I don't speak for NASA
|
| I've been on the lakebed. There were some concession stands run by various
and assorted Air Force groups. There were portable toilets. There were
zillions of people, including some non-trivial number with 2-meter radio setups
to pick up the rebroadcast of the NASA audio which some ham club kindly
broadcast.
The view is best classified as "OK". With binocculars. I was lucky...this was
Spacelab 1, which was in a high-inclination orbit. This orbit meant that
there were two opportunites for landing daily..the ascending node and the
decending node. They had planned to land in the morning, and in that case,
I would have seen it come and land more or less from a distance. As it was,
though, a shuttle computer failure forced them to delay till the afternoon.
This time, the shuttle came in from the north and had to make a complete circle
around the HAC, right over our heads...it was fabulous!
Burns
|