A Convair 990 (CV-990) aircraft was used as Landing Systems Research Aircraft (LSRA) to test space shuttle landing gear and braking systems. These tests were part of NASA’s continuing effort to upgrade and improve space shuttle capabilities. The aircraft is operated by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, where it was modified into a Landing Systems Research Aircraft.
First check flights of the CV-990 with the shuttle test components at Dryden were in April 1993. A series of tests with the CV-990 were then conducted at Edwards and at the Kennedy Space Center, FL, in 1993 and 1994 to study shuttle tire wear. The tests were very significant to the Space Shuttle Program by allowing the Return to Landing Site (RTLS) crosswind limits of the orbiters to be increased from 15 to 20 knots. The tests at Kennedy were carried out on several sample runway surfaces that were evaluated for smoothness and tire wear. Tests results aided in the selection of a runway surface that allowed the landings at higher crosswind limits. Additional flights by the CV-990 then made at Edwards to test shuttle tires on the main runway at low air pressures, on the natural lakebed surface.
A landing gear retraction system was installed in the lower fuselage area of the CV-990, between the aircraft’s main landing gear. The landing capability of the CV-990 was unaffected by the test components which represent a space shuttle landing gear unit…Learn more
CV-990 #810 is now on display at the entrance of the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California.