ATK Solid Rocket Boosters Lift Shuttle into Orbit with More Than 6 Million Pounds of Thrust
Alliant Techsystems reusable solid rocket motors provided more than 6 million pounds of thrust in the first two minutes of flight to help send the Space Shuttle Discovery on its mission on July 4, 2006. NASA launched Discovery and its seven-member crew on schedule to begin its journey to the International Space Station.
During the mission, the crew will continue to test new equipment and procedures that increase the safety of the Space Shuttle fleet. They also will perform maintenance on the Space Station and deliver more supplies and cargo for future Station expansion, including a third crewmember.
This will be the first three-person Space Station crew since the Expedition 6 crew returned to Earth May 4, 2003. Two 6.5-hour spacewalks are scheduled on the fifth and seventh days of the mission.
STS-121 is the 115th shuttle flight and the 18th U.S. flight to the International Space Station. ATK solid rocket motors have flown on each Space Shuttle mission since the inception of the program in 1981, and today are the only human-rated solid rocket motors produced in the U.S.
ATK is a $3.4 billion advanced weapon and space systems company employing approximately 15,000 people in 22 states. News and information can be found on the Internet at http://www.atk.com.
