Orbiter Spaceport

Besides the  well know Kennedy Space Center or Baikonur launch sites, there are many other such places around the world. Some of them aren't used for rocket launches, it they played an important role in space history, or are part of current aerospace activities. As part of the development of my Orbiter stock bases upgrade add-on, I've done some research regarding this sometimes little know sites. My objective was to provide high resolution surface tiles for each base and to represent, using the stock base objects, the main structures present. I'll share here some interesting places I discovered. Gran Canaria Airport (IATA: LPA, ICAO: GCLP), (also known as Las Palmas Airport) was an official alternative (emergency) landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle.Also nearby is the Gran Canaria drop zone , an air-launched rocket drop zone, located lat/long 27.0, -15.3. Runways: 03L/21R : 10,171 x 148 ft (3,100 x 45 m) — paved — lighted 03R/21L : 10,171 x 148 ft...

Kind of a side project that started from discussions between the Portuguese speaking space simulation enthusiasts. This add-on groups several bases created for the Lusophone Space Agency: Amílcar Cabral Airport (Cape Verde) Beja Airport (Portugal) Angola International Airport Macau International Airport (China) São Tomé and Príncipe International Airport Timor International Airport Alcântara Launch Center and Airport(Brazil)   The bases follow the actual airport layouts and no structures were added. The exception is Angola International Airport, as it is under construction and was created based on project renderings.   Standard Orbiter base blocks were used for all structures (with the exception of Alcântara Launch Center), in order to provide good performance. Landsat based Surface tiles are provided, complemented by other aerial imagery when available.  The Lusophone Space Program is based on space tourism, using for that the well known D...