Space Shuttle and the 1981 – 2011 Shannon Airport connection | Season 3 – Episode 87
Wings Dec 01, 2023
It was then President of the USA, Richard Nixon who started the idea of a making space travel routine by establishing the Space Shuttle programme on January 5th 1972. In his own words; “This system will center on a space vehicle that can shuttle repeatedly from Earth to orbit and back. It will revolutionize transportation into near space, by routinizing it.”
The world’s first reusable spacecraft launched like a rocket, maneuvered in Earth orbit like a spacecraft and landed like an airplane. It was comprised of the orbiter, main engines, external tank and solid rocket boosters.
Space Shuttle Discovery was the first to take flight on April 12th 1981 and over the next thirty years was followed by Endeavour, Atlantis, Challenger, Colombia and Enterprise.
Contingency protocols for Day-of-Launch (DOL) Abort landings were established at runways worldwide to facilitate the space vehicle’s ability to “shuttle repeatedly from Earth to orbit and back.” These designated runways spanned from Reykjavík in the north to Libera in the south, Saudi Arabia in the east and included Shannon Airport in Co Clare, Europe’s westernmost airport with a 3,199m runway.
This contingency plan was enacted if the shuttle couldn’t land at the Kennedy Space Centre’s Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) in Florida. Two other SLFs were situated in the USA: one at Edwards Air Force Base in California and another at White Sands Space Harbour in New Mexico. Post-launch, Shannon Airport was also kept on hold as a potential Emergency Landing Site (ELS).
Airport personnel at all sites, including those in control towers and on the ramp, underwent NASA training to manage incoming flights from space. Though it never occurred, Shannon Airport’s runway and staff were prepared for the Space Shuttle.
On display in the Boardroom of the Shannon ACC (Area Control Centre), is an Irish flag that journeyed into space aboard Discovery in 2008. NASA presented this flag as a token of appreciation and recognition for the unit at Shannon and their invaluable support for the Shuttle programme.
Information Sources:
Balettie.com
FlightSim.to
NASA.gov
MikeYankeeCharlie
Roster of Runways Ready to Bring a Shuttle Home” – NASA
ShannonAirport.ie
Speech of President Richard Nixon – January 5th 1972 – NASA
#irelandmade #ad #richardnixon #nasa #spaceshuttle #shannonairport #shannonacc #aviation
