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Yes. Just like most modern airplanes of any size, nose wheel steering is used on the ground.

Early missions landed at Edwards AFB on a circular dry lakebed. Circular meant that all landings could be directly into the wind no matter where the wind came from that day.

After the landing at Edwards, the shuttles were lifted on top of a 747 and flown piggyback to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is complex and expensive!

Once it looked like the shuttles were out of their test flight period and able to use a regular runway, they landed at Kennedy's runway. But the steering was too limited for a cross wind landing. This lead to a huge amount of tire damage the first time it happened. Shuttles were grounded.

The nose wheel steering was redesigned to allow for greater deflection. Problem was solved - landings became routine at Kennedy.

The steering wheel in a large plane is called a tiller - it's small, usually off to one side, and not connected to the flight controls.

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14y ago

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