sharp@mizar.usc.edu (Malcolm Sharp) (05/13/91)
If Edwards then is the best landing site, why not use Vandenberg is the space port? Is it because of the obvious things: no port there, infrastructure in place at KSC, no $$ savings, launches would take place over land mass?? -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Malcolm Sharp Coordinator, Instructional/Technical Support University of Southern California
kent@vf.jsc.nasa.gov (05/15/91)
In article <6796@male.EBay.Sun.COM>, geoffm@purplehaze.EBay.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller) writes: > > In article <32809@usc> sharp@mizar.usc.edu (Malcolm Sharp) writes: > >>If Edwards then is the best landing site, why not use Vandenberg >>is the space port? Is it because of the obvious things: no >>port there, infrastructure in place at KSC, no $$ savings, >>launches would take place over land mass?? > > > There might be other factors, but I'm certain the primary > one is that since the Cape is closer to the equator than > Vandenberg, less energy is required to boost a given mass > into orbit because of the assistance given by the Earth's > rotation. Due to safety concerns you don't want to launch east over the populated US to put a vehicle in orbit. Can you imagine the outcome of Challenger and the SRB's raining down on the good old USA? You don't want to launch westward because you are fighting the earth's rotation. Vandenburg was going to be used for Shuttle military launches into a poler or high inclination launches (launching northward). Even if vandenburg was the launch site and Edwards the landing site, you still would have to use the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (the 747) to get it back to Vandenburg. The major expense to the ferry flight is getting the shuttle configured for the flight, and getting it on and off the 747. The fuel and the pilot expense is not that great a difference for a 3 leg trip versus a 1 leg trip. -- Mike Kent - Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company at NASA JSC 2400 NASA Rd One, Houston, TX 77058 (713) 483-3791 KENT@vf.jsc.nasa.gov