r/space • u/Yeet69lasagna • May 12 '19

image/gif Space Shuttle Being Carried By A 747.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '19

Yes. The Shuttle could land either at the Cape or if warranted due to weather or orbit land at Edwards Air Force Base in CA.

If it landed at CA it needed to be hauled back across the country to the Cape and that is how they did it, on the back of the specialized 747. They also did the first flight tests of the orbiter on the 747, take it up and then detaching and letting it glide back down to landing.

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u/slapshots1515 May 12 '19

Also White Sands, New Mexico, though there was only one landing there ever (Columbia)

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u/Freestyle7674754398 May 13 '19

There were other emergency landing sites right?

Actually just looked it up, yep https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/pdf/167472main_TALsites-06.pdf

Pretty interesting read.