White Sands Space Harbor
{{For|Launch Complex 96 that fires toward White Sands|Fort Wingate}}
{{short description|NASA training and research site}}
{{Infobox airport
| name = White Sands Space Harbor
| nativename =
| image = STS-3 landing.jpg
| IATA =
| ICAO =
| FAA =
| type = Military
| owner = US Air Force
| operator = NASA
| city-served = White Sands Test Facility
| location = White Sands Missile Range
| elevation-f = 3,913
| elevation-m = 1,192
|coordinates = {{coord|32|56|35.67|N|106|25|10.31|W|type:landmark_region:AR_dim:2000|display=inline}}
| pushpin_map = USA
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in USA
| website =
| r1-number = 17/35
| r1-length-f = 35,000
| r1-length-m = 10,700
| r1-surface = Dry lakebed
| r2-number = 5/23
| r2-length-f = 35,000
| r2-length-m = 10,700
| r2-surface = Dry lakebed
| r3-number = 2/20
| r3-length-f = 12,800
| r3-length-m = 3,900
| r3-surface = Dry lakebed
| stat-year =
| stat1-header =
| stat1-data =
| stat2-header =
| stat2-data =
| footnotes =
}}
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.{{cite web | url = http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wstf/spaceharbor/index.html | title = White Sands Space Harbor | publisher = NASA | access-date = 2008-03-10 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130830131254/http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wstf/spaceharbor/index.html | archive-date = 2013-08-30 | url-status = dead }} 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 {{OV| 102}} on March 30, 1982, for STS-3.{{cite web | url = http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wstf/spaceharbor/Capabilities.html | title = White Sands Space Harbor - Capabilities | publisher = NASA | access-date = 2008-03-10 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130614181714/http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wstf/spaceharbor/Capabilities.html | archive-date = 2013-06-14 | url-status = dead }}
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.{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/dcx.htm |title=DC-X |access-date=2013-01-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121228125150/http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/dcx.htm |archive-date=2012-12-28 }}{{YouTube|ra5rY6gTZ0A|Delta-Clipper-1993-White-Sands-Xenon.mov}}
Landing history
| class="wikitable"
! No. ! Date ! Flight ! Spacecraft ! Landing site ! Result |
| 1
| 30 March 1982 | STS-3 | {{OV|102}} | Runway 17 | {{Success}} |
| 2
| 22 December 2019 | {{ComV|Starliner|3}} | | {{Success}} |
| 3
| 25 May 2022 | Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2 | {{ComV|Starliner|2}} | | {{Success}} |
| 4
| 7 September 2024 | {{ComV|Starliner|3}} | | {{Success}} |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Historic American Engineering Record documentation, all filed under White Sands, Dona Ana County, NM:
- {{HAER |survey=NM-27 |id=nm0341 |title=White Sands Space Harbor |data=38 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28 |id=nm0342 |title=White Sands Space Harbor, Area 1 |photos=11 |data=20 |cap=3 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-A |id=nm0343 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Runway 17/35 |photos=10 |data=30 |cap=3 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-B |id=nm0344 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Runway 23/05 |photos=6 |data=25 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-C |id=nm0345 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Runway 20/02 |photos=5 |data=23 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-D |id=nm0346 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Control Tower |photos=9 |data=29 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-E |id=nm0347 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Weather Tower No. 4 |photos=2 |data=16 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-F |id=nm0348 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, HUB Maintenance Facility |photos=16 |data=24 |cap=4 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-G |id=nm0349 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Fire Station No. 4 |photos=3 |data=20 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-H |id=nm0350 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, HUB Generator Building |data=19 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-I |id=nm0351 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, HUB Tool Storage Building |photos=3 |data=16 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-J |id=nm0352 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Navigational Aid Control Building |photos=2 |data=16 |cap=1 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-K |id=nm0353 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Navigational Aid Storage Building |data=16 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-L |id=nm0354 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Helicopter Staging Area |photos=1 |data=17 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-M |id=nm0355 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, PAPI Control Building |photos=5 |data=18 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-N |id=nm0356 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, PAPI Control Building |photos=1 |data=16 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-O |id=nm0357 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, XENON Control Trailers |photos=3 |data=18 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-P |id=nm0358 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Microwave Scanning Beam Landing Ground Stations |photos=2 |data=17 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-Q |id=nm0359 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Crash/Rescue Standby Support GPS Buildings |photos=1 |data=15 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-R |id=nm0360 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Crash/Rescue Standby Area Trailer |photos=1 |data=15 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-S |id=nm0361 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, TACAN Beacon Station |photos=1 |data=16 |cap=2 |link=no}}
- {{HAER |survey=NM-28-T |id=nm0362 |title=White Sands Space Harbor Area 1, Waterhole |data=18 |link=no}}
{{Coord|32|56|35.67|N|106|25|10.31|W|type:airport_source:dewiki|display=title}}
{{Space Shuttle}}
Category:Historic American Engineering Record in New Mexico
Category:Launch complexes of the United States Space Force
Category:Spaceports in the United States
Category:White Sands Missile Range