The solid rocket motors are manufactured at Alliant Techsystems Inc. The preliminary indications are that all test objectives for the shuttle and Areas I were met, a key success for the “test before you fly” standard. The test evaluation motor, or TEM-13, burned for approximately 123 seconds, the same time each reusable solid rocket motor burns during a space shuttle launch. The Reusable Solid Rocket Booster Project Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages these tests to qualify any proposed changes to the rocket motor and to determine whether new materials perform as well as those now in use—Huntsville, Alabama
NASA Heats It Up Again
NASA’s Space Shuttle Program has successfully fired a four-segment, reusable solid rocket motor. This occurred on Thursday, November 1st, at the ATK Launch Systems Group, a test facility located in Promontory, Utah. This test supplied important data for continued launches of the shuttle as well as for the development of the Ares I rocket, the latter being a key component of NASA’s Constellation Program that will launch the Orion crew vehicle on moon missions.
The solid rocket motors are manufactured at Alliant Techsystems Inc. The preliminary indications are that all test objectives for the shuttle and Areas I were met, a key success for the “test before you fly” standard. The test evaluation motor, or TEM-13, burned for approximately 123 seconds, the same time each reusable solid rocket motor burns during a space shuttle launch. The Reusable Solid Rocket Booster Project Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages these tests to qualify any proposed changes to the rocket motor and to determine whether new materials perform as well as those now in use—Huntsville, Alabama
The solid rocket motors are manufactured at Alliant Techsystems Inc. The preliminary indications are that all test objectives for the shuttle and Areas I were met, a key success for the “test before you fly” standard. The test evaluation motor, or TEM-13, burned for approximately 123 seconds, the same time each reusable solid rocket motor burns during a space shuttle launch. The Reusable Solid Rocket Booster Project Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages these tests to qualify any proposed changes to the rocket motor and to determine whether new materials perform as well as those now in use—Huntsville, Alabama
