NASA Will Test Solid Rocket Motor Feb. 17 in Utah

From: Jacques van Oene (oene0072_at_planet.nl)
Date: 02/14/05 

Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 16:22:56 +0100

NASA Will Test Solid Rocket Motor Feb. 17 in Utah

02.10.05

June Malone
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 256.544.0034)
News release: 05-013

What: NASA's Space Shuttle program will test the first of two Flight
Verification Motors, a full-scale Reusable Solid Rocket Motor, at the
facilities of ATK Thiokol Inc., an Alliant Techsystems company, in
Promontory, Utah. The test on motor is expected to provide a better
understanding of mid-life rocket motors. Shuttle Solid Rocket Motors are
certified for flight for five years.

Two Solid Rocket Boosters, each carrying four Reusable Solid Rocket Motors,
provide a combined thrust of some 5.8 million pounds for the Space Shuttle
during the first two minutes of flight. The Boosters take the Shuttle to an
altitude of 28 miles at a speed of 3,094 mph before they separate and fall
into the ocean to be retrieved, then refurbished and prepared for another
flight.

The four right-hand segments of Reusable Solid Rocket Motor 89 set will be
used for the test. Each motor is divided into four segments of propellant,
each bound by a metal casing. Once the segments are joined, they become part
of the left or right Booster.

The Flight Verification Test is an opportunity for NASA and ATK Thiokol
engineers to gather information not typically gained from previous motor
tests that focus on qualifying new products. It will also further validate
motor lifespan, a certification established by NASA more than 20 years ago
at the beginning of the Space Shuttle Program. The left-hand motors of the
RSRM 89 set will be tested in fall of 2007, according to Jody Singer,
manager of the Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Project, part of the Space
Shuttle Propulsion Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala.

When: Thursday, Feb. 17, at 1 p.m. MST

Where: Facilities of ATK Thiokol Inc., an Alliant Techsystems company, at
Promontory, Utah

To attend: To attend the firing, media representatives must register with
Melodie de Guibert of ATK Thiokol by telephoning (435) 863-3169 no later
than 1 p.m. MST Wednesday, Feb. 16. 

-- 
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info

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