• Source: White Sands Space Harbor

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. 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.




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.
Boeing's Starliner Calypso returned from a 49-hour Orbital Test Flight at 12:57 UTC on December 22, 2019, on runway 17/35. 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.




Landing history






References






External links


Historic American Engineering Record documentation, all filed under White Sands, Dona Ana County, NM:
HAER No. NM-27, "White Sands Space Harbor", 38 data pages
HAER No. NM-28, "White Sands Space Harbor, Area 1", 11 photos, 20 data pages, 3 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-A, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Runway 17/35", 10 photos, 30 data pages, 3 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-B, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Runway 23/05", 6 photos, 25 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-C, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Runway 20/02", 5 photos, 23 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-D, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Control Tower", 9 photos, 29 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-E, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Weather Tower No. 4", 2 photos, 16 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-F, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, HUB Maintenance Facility", 16 photos, 24 data pages, 4 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-G, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Fire Station No. 4", 3 photos, 20 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-H, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, HUB Generator Building", 19 data pages
HAER No. NM-28-I, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, HUB Tool Storage Building", 3 photos, 16 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-J, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Navigational Aid Control Building", 2 photos, 16 data pages, 1 photo caption page
HAER No. NM-28-K, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Navigational Aid Storage Building", 16 data pages
HAER No. NM-28-L, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Helicopter Staging Area", 1 photo, 17 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-M, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, PAPI Control Building", 5 photos, 18 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-N, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, PAPI Control Building", 1 photo, 16 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-O, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, XENON Control Trailers", 3 photos, 18 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-P, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Microwave Scanning Beam Landing Ground Stations", 2 photos, 17 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-Q, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Crash/Rescue Standby Support GPS Buildings", 1 photo, 15 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-R, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Crash/Rescue Standby Area Trailer", 1 photo, 15 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-S, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, TACAN Beacon Station", 1 photo, 16 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
HAER No. NM-28-T, "White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Waterhole", 18 data pages

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• STS-3
• Daftar perusahaan Amerika Serikat
• Cakupan Google Street View
• Daftar julukan kota di Amerika Serikat
• White Sands Space Harbor
• White Sands
• White Sands Missile Range
• List of Space Shuttle landing sites
• White Sands Test Facility
• STS-3
• Space Shuttle abort modes
• List of longest runways
• Boeing Orbital Flight Test
• Space Shuttle Columbia