For those who wonder how pilots learn to land the shuttle, the answer is the STA or shuttle training aircraft. NASA has a small business jet that has been equipped to transition to shuttle-like flying qualities at the flip of a switch. This jet is kept mostly in El Paso, TX so Terry jumps in his T-38 here, flies to El Paso, jumps on over to the STA and heads to one of the landing sites, flips the switch and then simulates shuttle landings. Then he does it all in reverse to get home. He spent Friday simulating landings in Florida since there is a launch scheduled for Monday and the STA is up and running down there. If I am correct, there are only a few landing strips in the world which are long enough for a shuttle landing. Of course, Cape Canaveral in Florida is one, and Edwards AFB, CA is the best alternate site. I'll have to get Terry on here to give more specifics next time.
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