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Yes. The space shuttle could.

I recall in shuttle ascent abort training, when the crew was executing an East Coast Abort Landing to an airbase / airport on the East Coast, the commander would communicate with the tower on "guard" as they were approaching the site.

These airports included civilian airports such as St. Johns, Wilmington, Stephenville, etc. Clearly some means of communicating with the civilian tower in this situation was necessary.

This line from the Audio/UHF Training Manual states

UHF guard (243.0 MHz) is available at most U.S. landing fields, and is used by the crew for East Coast Abort Landings (ECALs).

You can see the reference in the checklist below to select UHF-G transmit/receive. The Training Manual explains

Selecting G T/R on the UHF MODE switch enables transmit and receive on the GUARD channel frequency in the SIMPLEX mode. All other frequencies are disabled.

(Ascent Checklist, from the JSC FDF Page)

This picture I took in Endeavour shows the UHF Mode switch conveniently located over the commander's head. The Guard setting is indicated.

This question from Aviation Stack Exchange explains why it's called "guard".

Yes. The space shuttle could.

I recall in shuttle ascent abort training, when the crew was executing an East Coast Abort Landing to an airbase / airport on the East Coast, the commander would communicate with the tower on "guard" as they were approaching the site.

These airports included civilian airports such as St. Johns, Wilmington, Stephenville, etc. Clearly some means of communicating with the civilian tower in this situation was necessary.

This line from the Audio/UHF Training Manual states

UHF guard (243.0 MHz) is available at most U.S. landing fields, and is used by the crew for East Coast Abort Landings (ECALs).

You can see the reference in the checklist below to select UHF-G transmit/receive. The Training Manual explains

Selecting G T/R on the UHF MODE switch enables transmit and receive on the GUARD channel frequency in the SIMPLEX mode. All other frequencies are disabled.

(Ascent Checklist, from the JSC FDF Page)

This picture I took in Endeavour shows the UHF Mode switch conveniently located over the commander's head. The Guard setting is indicated.

This question from Aviation Stack Exchange explains why it's called "guard".

Yes. The space shuttle could.

I recall in shuttle ascent abort training, when the crew was executing an East Coast Abort Landing to an airbase / airport on the East Coast, the commander would communicate with the tower on "guard" as they were approaching the site.

These airports included civilian airports such as St. Johns, Wilmington, Stephenville, etc. Clearly some means of communicating with the civilian tower in this situation was necessary.

This line from the Audio/UHF Training Manual states

UHF guard (243.0 MHz) is available at most U.S. landing fields, and is used by the crew for East Coast Abort Landings (ECALs).

You can see the reference in the checklist below to select UHF-G transmit/receive. The Training Manual explains

Selecting G T/R on the UHF MODE switch enables transmit and receive on the GUARD channel frequency in the SIMPLEX mode. All other frequencies are disabled.

(Ascent Checklist, from the JSC FDF Page)

This picture I took in the Shuttle Mission Simulator shows the UHF Mode switch conveniently located over the commander's head.

This question from Aviation Stack Exchange explains why it's called "guard".

Yes. The space shuttle could.

I recall in shuttle ascent abort training, when the crew was executing an East Coast Abort Landing to an airbase / airport on the East Coast, the commander would communicate with the tower on "guard" as they were approaching the site.

These airports included civilian airports such as St. Johns, Wilmington, Stephenville, etc. Clearly some means of communicating with the civilian tower in this situation was necessary.

This line from the Audio/UHF Training Manual states

UHF guard (243.0 MHz) is available at most U.S. landing fields, and is used by the crew for East Coast Abort Landings (ECALs).

You can see the reference in the checklist below to select UHF-G transmit/receive. The Training Manual explains

Selecting G T/R on the UHF MODE switch enables transmit and receive on the GUARD channel frequency in the SIMPLEX mode. All other frequencies are disabled.

(Ascent Checklist, from the JSC FDF Page)

This picture I took in Endeavour shows the UHF Mode switch conveniently located over the commander's head. The Guard setting is indicated.

This question from Aviation Stack Exchange explains why it's called "guard".

Yes. The space shuttle could.

I recall in shuttle ascent abort training, when the crew was executing an East Coast Abort Landing to an airbase / airport on the East Coast, the commander would communicate with the tower on "guard" as they were approaching the site.

These airports included civilian airports such as Gander, Atlantic City, etc. Clearly some means of communicating with the civilian tower in this situation was necessary.

This line from the Audio/UHF Training Manual states

UHF guard (243.0 MHz) is available at most U.S. landing fields, and is used by the crew for East Coast Abort Landings (ECALs).

You can see the reference in the checklist below to select UHF-G transmit/receive. The Training Manual explains

Selecting G T/R on the UHF MODE switch enables transmit and receive on the GUARD channel frequency in the SIMPLEX mode. All other frequencies are disabled.

(Ascent Checklist, from the JSC FDF Page)

This picture I took in the Shuttle Mission Simulator shows the UHF Mode switch conveniently located over the commander's head.

Yes. The space shuttle could.

I recall in shuttle ascent abort training, when the crew was executing an East Coast Abort Landing to an airbase / airport on the East Coast, the commander would communicate with the tower on "guard" as they were approaching the site.

These airports included civilian airports such as St. Johns, Wilmington, Stephenville, etc. Clearly some means of communicating with the civilian tower in this situation was necessary.

This line from the Audio/UHF Training Manual states

UHF guard (243.0 MHz) is available at most U.S. landing fields, and is used by the crew for East Coast Abort Landings (ECALs).

You can see the reference in the checklist below to select UHF-G transmit/receive. The Training Manual explains

Selecting G T/R on the UHF MODE switch enables transmit and receive on the GUARD channel frequency in the SIMPLEX mode. All other frequencies are disabled.

(Ascent Checklist, from the JSC FDF Page)

This picture I took in the Shuttle Mission Simulator shows the UHF Mode switch conveniently located over the commander's head.

This question from Aviation Stack Exchange explains why it's called "guard".