posted 04-30-2023 08:57 AM               

Space Cover 699: Shuttle Post-Orbital Ferry Flight Stopovers

Following orbital flights, Space Shuttle orbiters were transported atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) from their landing site back to their launch site, KSC, a total of 55 times. 54 of the 55 ferry flights were from Edwards AFB, CA, with one, following STS-3's unscheduled landing, from White Sands Missile Range, NM. After Shuttle landings become routine at KSC, ferry flights were not always needed and occurred much less often.

Shown above are covers for Columbia's ferry flight back to KSC after landing at Edwards AFB on STS-61C: departure from EAFB, stopover at Kelly AFB and KSC return (Of sad note, Columbia arrived back at KSC just five days before Challenger was lost on 51L).

These EAFB to KSC transcontinental flights were too long for non-stop flights, so every Shuttle/SCA ferry flight had at least one stopover.

Starting with STS-1, this collector attempted to acquire a set of three post-flight ferry flight covers. These included departure from the landing site, stopover site, and return to KSC. Results were overall fairly successful and displayed above and below here are some highlights from my efforts.

These seven covers display stopover canceled covers from five different stopover locations, starting with Tinker AFB, TX for the first post-orbital ferry flight: Columbia on STS-1. The other covers' ferry flight stopover locations included Kelly AFB, TX, Bergstrom AFB, TX, Barksdale AFB, LA and Eglin AFB, FL. A number of ferry flights had more than one stopover, including Eglin AFB for STS-51F because of weather factors.

Some other stopover locations included, Sheppard AFB, TX, Altus AFB, OK, Biggs Army Air Field, TX and Robins AFB, GA.