New TAL site - in France!

[najab]

That would be one heck of a quick way to get to France!<br /><br />http://www.spacedaily.com/news/shuttle-05zd.html

 

[thinice]

And what has happened to the TAL site in Spain? Why spend money on a new site?

 

[nacnud]

Perhaps the more sites the better, or this is better sited for a 56 degree inclination abort.

 

[najab]

><i>And what has happened to the TAL site in Spain? Why spend money on a new site?</i><p>AFAIK, nothing has happened to the site in Spain, they are just trying to get three solid alternative sites since the Gambia and Morocco aren't available any more.</p>

 

[shyningnight]

This may be a dumb question...<br />But what happened to the Morocco and Gambia sites?<br />Changing political friendships? NASA forgot to pay the lease? <br /><br />Paul F.

 

[vogon13]

Political instability mostly. IIRC the emergency runway at one of the sites wasn't all that great either for a max weight shuttle landing, and I also don't know if the upgrades for the landing system were ever installed (there needs to be some ground equipment at each landing site). With multiple TAL sites weather problems a little harder to scrub a launch.<br /><br />Recall from Challenger hearings that no astronauts ever want to do a TAL. After Columbia, probably even less enthusiasm since re-entry heating is greater in these abort scenarios. <br /><br />I don't know what happened to the facility at Easter Island, but it was most likely only good for the California launches any how. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>