The Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station, known in NASA parlance as MILA, was a radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex located on 61 acres (0.25 km2) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.[1] The name MILA was an acronym for the "Merritt Island Launch Annex" to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which was how the site was referred to when spacecraft launches were primarily originating from the adjacent military installation.[2] MILA's arrays of antennas provided various communications and data services between spacecraft and NASA centers, as well as tracked and ranged moving spacecraft.[1] In its final years, it served as the primary voice and data link during the first 7½ minutes of Space Shuttle launches, and the final 13 minutes of shuttle landings at KSC.[3] Though it occupied land at KSC, MILA was operated and managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center.[3]
The station was decommissioned on July 28, 2011 following the end of the shuttle program. NASA eventually plans to build a new, state-of-the-art station, Kennedy Uplink Station, on the other side of the KSC Visitor Complex to support launches of a heavy-lift rocket planned for exploration missions.[4]
- ^ a b "Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking & Data Network Stations (MILA)". NASA. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
- ^ "The MILA Story". NASA. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
- ^ a b "NASA Facts:The MILA spaceflight tracking and data network station" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 11, 2009. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
- ^ "Merritt Island Launch Annex had little known -- but important -- launch role" Florida Today July 29, 2011 Retrieved July 29, 2011.
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search