Moai and the Space Shuttle....?? - Collecting Tiki

T TikiHardBop Tiki Socialite Rockledge, FL Joined: Feb 21, 2009 Posts: 584	T TikiHardBop Posted posted on Sat, May 11, 2019 9:34 AM Just like the TAL sites for the KSC-based launches, the landing runways were primarily to save the crew. NASA never did really solve the logistics behind getting a shuttle back from the TAL sites. You would have to disassemble, ship and re-assemble a MDM (mate/de-mate) structure to get it on the 747 in the first place. And then all the TAL sites were beyond the range of the fully-loaded 747. There were 747s that were modified for in-flight refueling, but NASA never made the modifications to their ferry aircraft and they certainly didn't test refueling with a shuttle sitting atop the plane! Then you have to factor in the weather. Very often, the ferry flights back from California were often detoured to Texas or other locations due to bad weather. A trans-oceanic flight would have no margin for weather issues. A boat was the next obvious solution, but the issues around getting the shuttle to an actual port and loading/off-loading were never actually addressed as well. I had a friend who was in charge of setting up the MSBLS (microwave scanning beam landing system) for the TAL sites and he admitted there was a lot of "we'll deal with it when it happens" surrounding the whole thing. And don't even get me started on the hand-waving surrounding the whole RTLS (return to launch site) protocol! [ Edited by: TikiHardBop 2019-05-11 09:37 ]

Just like the TAL sites for the KSC-based launches, the landing runways were primarily to save the crew. NASA never did really solve the logistics behind getting a shuttle back from the TAL sites. You would have to disassemble, ship and re-assemble a MDM (mate/de-mate) structure to get it on the 747 in the first place. And then all the TAL sites were beyond the range of the fully-loaded 747. There were 747s that were modified for in-flight refueling, but NASA never made the modifications to their ferry aircraft and they certainly didn't test refueling with a shuttle sitting atop the plane!

Then you have to factor in the weather. Very often, the ferry flights back from California were often detoured to Texas or other locations due to bad weather. A trans-oceanic flight would have no margin for weather issues.

A boat was the next obvious solution, but the issues around getting the shuttle to an actual port and loading/off-loading were never actually addressed as well.

I had a friend who was in charge of setting up the MSBLS (microwave scanning beam landing system) for the TAL sites and he admitted there was a lot of "we'll deal with it when it happens" surrounding the whole thing.

And don't even get me started on the hand-waving surrounding the whole RTLS (return to launch site) protocol!

[ Edited by: TikiHardBop 2019-05-11 09:37 ]

Post #795069 by TikiHardBop on Sat, May 11, 2019 9:34 AM