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Originally Posted by Blanche
The landing area is not chosen "a few minutes in advance". There's
at least one orbit, usually 2 (90/180 min) for the final decision.
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That is quite true for a de-orbit landing, but what about a sub-orbital launch abort? Is an emergency landing site always available after a certain minimum altitude is reached?
I am certain the engineers have calculated the answer to this question and the pilot and mission commander have that emergency procedure memorized, but I have no idea if there are any critical gaps short of orbit.