STS-3xx
class of Space Shuttle missions to rescue another Shuttle
Space Shuttle missions designated STS-3xx (officially called Launch On Need (LON) missions) were rescue missions which would have been mounted to rescue the crew of a Space Shuttle if their vehicle was damaged and deemed unable to make a successful reentry. Such a mission would have been flown if Mission Control determined that the heat shielding tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon panels of a currently flying orbiter were damaged beyond the repair capabilities of the available on-orbit repair methods. These missions were also referred to as Launch on Demand (LOD) and Contingency Shuttle Crew Support. The program was initiated following loss of Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003 during that Shuttle's investigation board. No mission of this type was launched before the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.
Procedure
The orbiter and four of the crew which were scheduled to fly the next planned mission would be retasked to the rescue mission. The planning and training processes for a rescue flight would have allowed NASA to launch the mission within a period of 40 days of its being called up. During that time, the damaged (or disabled) shuttle's crew would have to take refuge on the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS was able to support both crews for around 80 days, with oxygen supply being the limiting factor. Within NASA, this plan for maintaining the shuttle crew at the ISS was known as Contingency Shuttle Crew Support (CSCS) operations.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “STS-3xx” as class of Space Shuttle missions to rescue another Shuttle. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as class of Space Shuttle missions to rescue another Shuttle. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1686810. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2003 and 2011.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “STS-3xx” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.