The Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. (Credit: NASA)
By Douglas Messier Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
NASA is still reviewing options on what to do with the Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), which has been largely idle since the last space shuttle touched down 18 months ago.
“Regarding your request for the Shuttle Landing Facility, NASA is currently assessing responses to the recently published Request for Information (RFI) seeking to identify entities that may be interested in maintaining and operating this National Asset,” NASA Associate Administrator L. Seth Statler wrote in a Nov. 30 letter to Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll. “A decision regarding the disposition of this asset will follow the completion of the RFI response assessment and review of the Space Florida proposal.”
Atlas V launches OTV3 into orbit from Cape Canaveral. (Credit: Pat Corkery, United Launch Alliance.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., (Dec. 11, 2012) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket successfully launched the third Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-3) for the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office (AFRCO) at 1:03 p.m. EST today from Space Launch Complex-41. The OTV, also known as the X-37B, supports space experimentation, risk reduction, and concept of operations development for long duration and reusable space vehicle technologies. The first two OTV missions also were successfully launched by ULA respectively on April 22, 2010 and March 5, 2011.
Launch of Atlas V NRO satellite on June 20, 2012. (Credit: ULA)
Centennial, Colo., Dec. 7, 2012 (ULA PR) -– Today, United Launch Alliance (ULA) cleared the next launch of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) for Dec. 11, after a thorough flight clearance process was executed following a flight data anomaly that occurred on the Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-3 launch on Oct. 4.
X-37B after landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base on June 16, 2012. (Credit: Boeing/USAF)
Florida Today reports that Space Florida has approved spending $5 million to re-purpose facilities at the Kennedy Space Center for a classified military program code named “Project Coyote.”
Speculation centers on the U.S. Air Force’s reusable X-37B shuttle, which launches from Cape Canaveral but lands at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Air Force officials have been looking at saving money by consolidating the program in Florida and landing the autonomous space plane at the Shuttle Landing Facility there.
Documents have linked the spending to the Orbiter Processing Facilities 1 and 2. These structures were used for space shuttle work until the program was canceled last year.
Space Florida is also spending $10 million to prepare Orbiter Processing Facility 3 for use by Boeing for assembling its CST-100 spacecraft. The orbital vehicle is being developed under NASA’s commercial crew program to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.
The money for the upgrades is coming from the Florida Department of Transportation’s $15 million fund for space-related infrastructure upgrades.
The X-37B after its first mission in December 2010. (Credit: USAF)
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — June 16, 2012 — (USAF PR) – The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), the Air Force’s unmanned, reusable space plane, landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5:48 a.m. (PDT) June 16.
X-37B space plane after it first landing. (Credit: U.S. Air Force)
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (USAF PR) – Preparations for the second landing of the X-37B, the Air Force’s unmanned, reusable space plane, are underway at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
While the exact landing date and time will depend on technical and weather considerations, it is expected to occur during the early- to mid-June timeframe. Space professionals from the 30th Space Wing will monitor the de-orbit and landing of the Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission, called OTV-2.
The X-37B launched March 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Since then, Vandenberg crews have conducted extensive, periodic training in preparation for landing. “The men and women of Team Vandenberg are ready to execute safe landing operations anytime and at a moment’s notice,” said Col. Nina Armagno, 30th Space Wing commander.
More information will be released as it becomes available.
X-37B space plane after landing. (Credit: U.S. Air Force)
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. (NASA PR) – NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., has won the 2011 NASA Government Invention of the Year.
Ames received the award for developing Toughened Uni-piece Fibrous Reinforced Oxidation-Resistant Composite (TUFROC), a low-cost, lightweight, two-piece, thermal protection system (TPS) for use on space vehicles during atmospheric re-entry at hypersonic speed. TUFROC, a patented technology invented by David A. Stewart and Daniel B. Leiser of Ames, has been successfully demonstrated on the X-37B Reusable Launch Vehicle.
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