Re:Secretive military spaceplane lands in Florida after reco...
by NotSammyHagar on Wednesday October 30, 2019 @12:23AM
(#21394688)
They could have installed remote control landing gear if they ever needed it.
Some time after the second wreak, NASA added the ability to run a cable for that. The idea was that a rescue mission would be launched, and the cable would be installed in the abandoned shuttle to allow a landing attempt.
BTW, the first mission was flown manually. I don't think the landing software could have been written without data from the first flight.