| Cape Canaveral AFS Skid Strip | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: none – ICAO: KXMR – FAA LID: XMR | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military | ||
| Operator | United States Air Force | ||
| Serves | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station | ||
| Location | Cape Canaveral | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 10 ft / 3 m | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 13/31 | 10,000 | 3,048 | Asphalt |
| Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] | |||
Cape Canaveral AFS Skid Strip (ICAO: KXMR) is a military airport on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Cocoa Beach, in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It has an asphalt paved runway designated 13/31 and measuring 10,000 x 200 ft. (3,048 x 61 m). The facility is owned by the United States Air Force (USAF).[1]
Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Cape Canaveral AFS Skid Strip is assigned XMR by the FAA, but has no designation from the IATA.[2]
In the 1960s the Douglas C-133 Cargomaster was a frequent visitor to the skid strip, carrying retired Atlas and Titan missiles, which were used as launch vehicles for numerous test programs leading up to the Moon landing. The Skid Strip was used by NASA's Pregnant Guppy and Super Guppy transport aircraft carrying the S-IVB upper stage for the Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets used in Project Apollo. Today, it is predominantly used by USAF C-130 Hercules, C-17 Globemaster III and C-5 Galaxy aircraft transporting satellite payloads to CCAFS for mating with launch vehicles.
The CCAFS Skid Strip is sometimes confused with the NASA Shuttle Landing Facility, but that runway, specially constructed for the Space Shuttle, is located on Merritt Island at the adjacent John F. Kennedy Space Center.