NASA puts BIA on shuttle landing list

BANGOR – Though it’s thousands of miles from the three sites designated for today’s landing of the space shuttle Discovery, Bangor International Airport is on NASA’s list as an emergency landing site.

“The runway is long enough that it’s capable of handling a shuttle,” airport director Rebecca Hupp said Monday of the 11,440-foot-long landing area.

The adjacent Maine Air National Guard base has little involvement in diversions to the airport, but could provide fire and security assistance in the event of a shuttle landing, according to a base spokeswoman.

Chances are pretty slim that Discovery or any other shuttle would make its way to Bangor, however, as NASA never has been forced to land a craft at one of its emergency landing sites.