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ATK’s Solid Rocket Boosters Launch NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour

Written by thomas · Filed Under Aeronautics News 

November 17, 2008

thomas

STS-126 is First Mission To Deploy a Full Flight Set of 16 ATK-Designed Booster Separation Motors

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Alliant Techsystems’ (NYSE: ATK) Reusable Solid Rocket Motors (RSRM) successfully ignited earlier today to send NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour and its crew on their mission to deliver equipment to the International Space Station (ISS) that will enable larger crews to reside aboard the complex.

ATK’s two solid rocket motors provided the main thrust at liftoff and carried the orbiter and its payload to an altitude of approximately 28 miles in two minutes of flight, producing the equivalent of 15 million horsepower per booster.

After two minutes of flight, 16 ATK Booster Separation Motors (BSMs) — four on the forward skirt and four on the aft skirt on each booster — fired to jettison the boosters safely away from the shuttle orbiter and external tank, allowing the rocket motors to parachute back down through the Earth’s atmosphere to be recovered and reused.

ATK recently qualified an upgraded BSM design for use on Shuttle missions. The scope of the redesign work included a full redesign of the igniter, and upgrades to a number of materials, processes and inspection techniques. ATK was tasked by NASA to qualify an upgraded BSM from a previous source and produce them alongside the RSRM’s stringent manufacturing and quality processes. The BSMs performed flawlessly.

“It is always exciting to watch our systems perform in support of each Shuttle mission,” said Mike Kahn, executive vice president and general manager of ATK Launch Systems. “I am especially proud of the NASA, ATK, and United Space Alliance BSM team that has been working together over the past few years in support of this important milestone.”

The RSRMs and BSMs will be used for the remainder of the Space Shuttle Program with similar versions being used on NASA’s Ares I, the launch vehicle that will replace the shuttle on missions to the ISS as well as conduct future lunar missions. ATK is the prime contractor for the Ares I five-segment first stage.

ATK is a premier aerospace and defense company with more than 17,000 employees in 21 states and $4.6 billion in revenue.

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