While NASA was looking for an alternative to the Kennedy Space Center Tuesday, the folks in North may have recalled that in the 1990s, North Auxiliary Airfield was a possible shuttle landing site.

Held up a day by bad weather in Florida, the shuttle soared Tuesday across the Pacific and over Southern California , passing just north of Los Angeles on its way to Edwards Air Force Base in California.

NASA adjusted the flight path in order to skirt Los Angeles because of new public safety considerations in the wake of the Columbia disaster, which rained debris onto Texas and Louisiana 2-1/2 years ago.

Nearly 10 years ago, North Auxiliary Airfield was on the list of alternate landing zones for space shuttles in case an emergency landing was required, according to Lt. Christopher Moore, spokesperson for Charleston Air Force Base, which now maintains the North airfield.

"As far as being an alternate landing site for the space shuttle, it is not right now," Moore said, adding that the North airfield's main runway was once 500 feet wide, but now, at a mere 150 feet wide, it can no longer accommodate a shuttle. The two runways at the airfield are 12,000 and 3,000 feet long.

Back-up landing sites, which are located thoughout the world, are used in adverse weather conditions or when on-orbit immediate emergencies or launch emergencies arise.

Upon Discovery's return to Earth, the North American back-up sites, in addition to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, were Edwards Air Force Base in California and Holloman Air Force Base/White Sands Harbor in New Mexico.

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