WHAT: Full-scale, full-duration test of a space shuttle reusable solid rocket motor, designed as Flight Support Motor FSM-15
WHERE: The test facility of ATK Launch Systems, a unit of Alliant Techsystems Inc., in Promontory, Utah, north of Salt Lake City
WHEN: Thursday, Dec. 4, at 12:30 p.m. MST (1:30 CST)
NASA will conduct a two-minute, static, or stationary, firing of a space shuttle reusable solid rocket motor at a Utah test facility. The primary objective is to evaluate possible performance changes as motors age. Space shuttle solid rocket motors are certified for flight for five years. FSM-15, at 7.7 years, will be the oldest reusable solid rocket motor ever fired. FVM-2, at 7.3 years, was fired in May 2008. It was at that time the oldest motor ever fired. This test will provide the Space Shuttle Program with important information about the validation of generic motor age-life certification. The test also will provide data for the Ares I rocket and NASA’s future exploration goals to return humans to the moon and beyond in the coming decades.
Space shuttle reusable solid rocket booster motors are managed and tested by the Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Booster Project Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
News media attending the test must register in advance with ATK Launch Systems. A pass is required to view the test. Requests must be in place by Dec. 2. Interviews may be prearranged in advance with ATK and NASA representatives. If you are bringing live broadcast equipment, please schedule in advance to arrange for parking. For more information and to request a media pass, contact Trina Patterson, ATK Launch Systems, at 801-251-3517 or 801-699-0943.
For supporting information for this news release – such as photographs, fact sheets, video and audio files – please visit the NASA Marshall Center Newsroom Web site at:
