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Space shuttle’s end closes military rescue ops

The best-case scenario occurred: Nothing happened.

Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen mobilized in southern Florida last month and prepared to rescue the astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis if they needed to bail out during an emergency. Instead, the Atlantis launched successfully into orbit July 8 and landed July 21.

The landing marked not only the end of the NASA's shuttle program, but also the end of the military’s rescue mission that accompanied each flight. Two Air Force HC-130s, at least four Air Force HH-60Gs, a Marine KC-130 and a Coast Guard HU-25 were mobilized for each launch in case an accident forced the shuttle to make an emergency landing.

“There was a whole armada available,” said Lt. Col. Scott Stenger of the 106th Rescue Wing. “The exact thing we went down there for luckily didn’t happen.”

It was the 109th time Stenger’s unit supported the Shuttle rescue mission. Stenger, the standards and evaluations officer at the 106th, participated in almost 20 Shuttle launches and was the air boss for King 2, the HC-130 idling on the runway during the final mission.

The modern rescue mission stemmed from the explosion of the Challenger in 1986. NASA officials developed a plan for the astronauts to bail out if an emergency landing didn't seem possible. The rescue forces would locate the astronauts – possibly in the middle of an ocean – and rescue them.

For each flight, a HC-130 carrying a jump team and three Zodiac boats was in the air and prepared to start the rescue mission in case the Shuttle needed to abort its takeoff and make an emergency landing. Another HC-130 with the same equipment sat on a runway at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., and would take off when the Shuttle began the emergency-landing process.

Four HH-60G Pave Hawks also stood by to transport astronauts to rescue, and a Marine KC-130 was prepared to refuel the aircraft in midflight.

The 106th Rescue Wing typically performs personnel recovery operations across the world, but the Shuttle mission became a major source of pride for the unit. Military and civilian personnel prepped F.S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., to be used as an emergency landing site. A sign on the gate near the wing’s headquarters at Gabreski Airport displays a running tally of the number of Shuttle launches the unit has supported. The wing had a barbecue after the last shuttle mission to celebrate the mission.

“It’s a big deal,” Stenger said. “People take it very, very seriously. People are very proud of it, no doubt.”

But with the retirement of the final Shuttle, that mission will go dark – though Stenger believes it’ll just be a few more years until the wing is called on to support another flight.

“NASA is looking at a few different possibilities of continuing manned spaceflights in one way or another,” he said, “and I think there’s a good possibility the Air Force will be included in that follow-on mission. If so, we’ll be ready.”