EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Edwards Air Force Base is planning to open its public viewing area on the east shore of Rogers Dry Lake Thursday and Friday for persons wishing to watch a potential landing of Space Shuttle Discovery.
The Discovery is scheduled to land Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. In the event the space shuttle is unable to land in Florida on Wednesday due to weather or other concerns, Edwards is the primary alternate landing site and may be called up to support a possible landing to conclude shuttle mission STS-120 on Thursday or Friday.
Members of the public wishing to view the potential shuttle landing must do so from the public viewing area near Mercury Boulevard on the east side of the base. The public will not be permitted to pass through any of the installation’s gates for viewing the shuttle landing on base.
From Lancaster and Palmdale, the viewing area can be reached by driving northbound on 120th Street East and making a right-hand turn on Mercury Boulevard just before the South Gate security checkpoint. From there, the viewing area is 12 miles down the road. From Boron, visitors should drive south on Rocket Site Road until it intersects with Mercury Boulevard, then turn right on Mercury Boulevard and continue to the viewing area four miles ahead.
The shuttle’s potential landing times at Edwards are 10 a.m., 11:35 a.m., and 1:08 p.m. on Thursday and 10:06 a.m. and 11:40 a.m. on Friday. Driving time to the location is about one hour from Lancaster / Palmdale, and about 2 ½ hours from Los Angeles and Bakersfield.
For the latest information about the STS-120 mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
For more about NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and its research projects, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden
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Dryden Flight Research Center
P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Phone 661/276-3449
FAX 661/276-3566
Alan Brown
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Phone: 661/276-2665
alan.brown@nasa.gov
1st Lt. Brad Kimberly
95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
(661) 277-6082
brad.kimberly@edwards.af.mil