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 New York Air Guard rescue teams look forward to future space missions By New York National Guard report
 PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Space Shuttle missions have ended, but the New York Air National Guard's contribution to outer-space exploration – like the challenge of exploration itself – continues. "There are a lot of follow-on programs after the space shuttle," said Air Force Lt. Col. Scott Stenger of the 106th Rescue Wing, which has been part of the rescue forces for the shuttle program since 1988. "There'll probably be a two-to-three year gap where there won't be any launches. But I fully expect that in two-and-a-half to three years, we'll be back down here, doing something else for some other type of vehicle." Meanwhile, the 106th Rescue Wing, based at F.S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., will continue to do what it always does – perform rescue missions stateside and overseas, in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa, Stenger said. "This is an additional duty for us," he said, "though it's a big deal when we're here." The 106th Rescue Wing has supported about 109 shuttle launches, he added, and he took part in his first launch in 1997. Stenger and other 106th Rescue Wing members – aircrew, pararescuemen and support personnel – were on hand here for the space shuttle Atlantis' final launch and space flight in mid-July. The unit members formed part of a group of Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine Corps personnel and aircraft standing by to rescue the shuttle astronauts in case of an emergency. Other unit members and New York Air National Guard members also supported the shuttle mission. Members of the 106th Rescue Wing worked with civilian emergency personnel to provide an emergency landing site at F.S. Gabreski Airport in case the shuttle had to divert along the Eastern Seaboard after launch. New York Air National Guardsmen from the Eastern Air Defense Sector in Rome, N.Y. controlled air patrols enforcing the Federal Aviation Administration's temporary no-fly zone around the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 106th Air Rescue personnel in Florida were tasked with finding and rescuing the astronauts in case of a mid-ocean bailout, explained Stenger, who was the air boss, or mission commander, for the 106th Rescue Wing contingent of the rescue forces. After the Challenger disaster, NASA developed an escape mechanism for the orbiter so the astronauts could bail out of the shuttle if necessary. If the shuttle didn't have enough power to get into orbit, the crew would attempt to return to the launch site, Stenger said. "If that were to happen, and they didn't have the energy to make it back to the airport, then what they'd do is bail out, and it would be our job, specifically my job, to go out and find them, out on the ocean, and make sure they got rescued," he explained. They were prepared to rescue up to seven astronauts spaced over a large area of ocean, Stenger said. The mission was a huge responsibility, involving a complex, dynamic situation with numerous aircraft and life-and-death decisions, he stressed. "The space shuttle is the most complex machine that's ever been built," he said. "I would say that this is the most complex rescue situation that you could probably encounter, because there are so many moving pieces." One of the unit's HC-130 Hercules search and rescue planes was part of the rescue force's aircraft. The plane is equipped with specialized search and rescue equipment, including three zodiac boats. If the astronauts were forced to bail out, the 106th Rescue Wing members would locate them, airdrop two three-man pararescue teams with a pair of zodiac boats, and provide medical aid and protection until helicopters arrived to pull the astronauts from the water. In addition to their Air Force rescue training, Airmen involved in the shuttle mission had to meet NASA qualifications and requirements and take part in large rescue exercises, Stenger said. "We've done a giant practice exercise, put people in the water and gone and picked them up," Stenger recalled. It was a great honor that America had pride and confidence in their ability to do the shuttle mission to the utmost of their ability, he reflected.
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