Shuttle Landing Facility
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| NASA Shuttle Landing Facility | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| IATA: TTS - ICAO: KTTS | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Private | ||
| Operator | National Aeronautics & Space Administration |
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| Serves | Titusville, Florida | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 10 ft (3 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 15/33 | 15,000 | 4,572 | Concrete |
The NASA Shuttle Landing Facility (IATA: TTS, ICAO: KTTS) is an airport located on Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, USA. It is a part of the John F. Kennedy Space Center and is used by the NASA Space Shuttle for landing, as well as takeoffs and landings of various military and civilian aircraft, such as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
Contents |
[edit] Facilities
The Shuttle Landing Facility covers 500 acres and has a single runway, 15/33. It is one of the longest runways in the world, at 4,572 m (15,000 ft), with length cited by some sources as 4,580 m (15,028 ft). The Mate /Demate Device (MDD) for use when the shuttle is transported by the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is located just off the runway.
The runway is designated runway 15, or 33, depending on the direction of use. The runway surface consists of an extremely high-friction concrete designed to maximize the braking ability of the Space Shuttle at its high landing speed. It also uses a grooved design to provide drainage and further increase the coefficient of friction. 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.
A local slang name for the runway is the "Gator tanning facility", as some of the 4000 alligators which live on the space center regularly bask in the sun on the runway. [1]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Resources for this airport:
- AirNav airport information for KTTS
- ASN Accident history for KTTS
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for KTTS
[edit] References
- ^ "Alligators and spaceflight", NASA TV programme 2006.
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| Main articles | Space Shuttle · Space Shuttle program |  |
| Components | Orbiter · SRB · External Tank · SSME · OMS | |
| Orbiters | Enterprise · Columbia · Challenger · Discovery · Atlantis · Endeavour | |
| Launch sites | Kennedy Space Center LC-39 · Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-6 | |
| Developments | Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle · Shuttle-C · Ares I · Ares V | |
| Testing | Pathfinder · MPTA · MPTA-ET | |
| Other articles | Missions (cancelled) · Decision to build · Crews · Abort modes · Space shuttles in fiction · Crawler-transporter · Space Shuttle America (motion simulator ride) · Shuttle Mockup Explorer | |
