Precision Approach Path Indicator Lights (PAPI) lights are used by the orbiter crew to verify outer glide slope (OGS) during a landing. Two sets of PAPI lights are used to accommodate high-wind and low-wind scenarios. High-wind PAPI lights are located 6,500 feet prior to the threshold on an extended centerline of the runway and the low-wind PAPI lights are located 7,500 feet prior to the threshold on the centerline.

Ball/bar lights will be used by the Shuttle astronauts to verify proper inner glide slope (IGS) during landing. The ball/bar lights are installed along both runways on the left, which is the commander's side of the orbiter. The ball light is 1,700 feet down the runway from the threshold with the bar light at 2,200 feet. Superimposing the ball light on the bar lights places the orbiter on a one-and-a-half-degree glide slope and enables the orbiter crew to touch down approximately 2,500 feet down the runway.

Distance-to-go markers display to the crew the distance remaining to the end of the runway during landing and rollout. These markers are installed on the left side of the runway, 1,000 feet apart, starting from the threshold and counting down to the overrun.

Xenon lights are a high-intensity flood lights that provide runway lighting for night landings at the TAL sites. Each light provides one billion candle power each. A set of three lights are installed on raised platform trucks on each side of the runway at the beginning of the underrun, shining down the runway to provide illumination of the entire touchdown area.

Portable approach light (flashlights) are required for night landings at Istres and Zaragoza because there are no approach light systems installed on the runway approach paths. The flashlights are placed in a predetermined pattern on the underrun and along a 3,000-foot extension of the runway centerline to provide a lighted visual reference of the approach path to the runway.

The PAPI lights, Xenon lights and portable approach lights are installed prior to each Shuttle launch and dismantled after the TAL site is released from support and stored until required for the next mission.

Dedicated orbiter ground support equipment has also been prepositioned at the TAL sites. This equipment includes a hatch opening tool, tow bar, tow bar adapter, staircase for the crew to disembark from the orbiter, grounding cable, landing gear lock pins, tire chocks, light banks for night operations and many more pieces of equipment for ground support.

Extra tires, brake-removal equipment and a Rhino jack - used for jacking up the orbiter - are pre-staged at Moron Air Base. Since a C-130 is not staged at Moron, this equipment would be moved to the TAL landing site by a C-130 aircraft coming from Zaragoza Air Base, Spain, or Istres Air Base, France.

Aircraft support at the TAL sites, and all other Department of Defense (DOD) support to the Shuttle Program, is managed through the Department of Defense Manned Space Flight support office (DDMS), located at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. A C-130 aircraft is deployed to the Zaragoza and/or Istres TAL site two days prior to launch.

The C-130 serves a variety of roles, including Search and Rescue (SAR), Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC) and logistics. The TAL-site C-130s are equipped with eight crew members, three air-deployable Zodiac rafts, nine Pararescue Jumpers (PJs), and two DOD flight surgeons, a nurse and medical technician and approximately 2,500 pounds of medical equipment.

The TAL sites are also supported by a DOD weather aircraft, either a C-21 (similar to a Learjet) or a C-12 (Beachcraft turboprop). An astronaut flies on this aircraft to provide real-time weather observations and recommendations back to the Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG) at Johnson Space Center and recommend go/no go status to the flight director at Johnson Space Center.

The astronaut is referred to as the TALCOM, the TAL site equivalent of the CAPCOM, or capsule communicator. The CAPCOM is the Mission Control-based astronaut in Houston who serves as the liaison with on-orbit space shuttle crews.

TALCOMs are deployed to each of the three TAL sites supporting a launch as the Johnson Flight Crew Operations Directorate (FCOD) representative; at the TAL site, he or she is also designated as the deputy ground operations manager (GOM).

The TALCOM is normally airborne from T-1:30 hours (one hour, 30 minutes before launch) through Main Engine Cutoff (MECO). The aircraft's UHF radio is linked to the Weather CAPCOM and Spaceflight Meteorology Group at Mission Control. The TALCOM also becomes familiar with the surrounding terrain along the approach path to the runway at the TAL site, and his or her observations are duly noted to assist an orbiter commander during a landing. The TALCOM checks out slant-range visibility and intensity settings on the visual landing aids, PAPI and ball/bar lights.