From Deseret News archives:

Thiokol tests booster, faces changing future

As shuttle retirement looms, rocket builder may need to shift focus

Published: Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005 9:51 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
PROMONTORY, Box Elder County — Pelting rain and concern about distant lightning built suspense that a shuttle rocket booster might not be tested as planned Tuesday.

Then the sky cleared, the countdown resumed and the motor ignited with an incandescent flame.

Following a pause due to sound traveling slower than light, a throaty bellow slammed spectators stationed 1.3 miles away from the test frame. As the firing continued, the long, furious flame licked at the hillside. Billowing white and brown clouds tumbled and piled high into the sky. Hundreds of spectators were delighted.

Soon afterward, NASA announced that ATK Thiokol had successfully fired a solid rocket booster, "one of several annual tests . . . to qualify any proposed changes to the rocket motor and to guarantee that new materials meet safety requirements."

"These annual tests closely replicate a space shuttle launch," said a release from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Although the two hours of suspense about the test ended with a roar, the larger question remained unanswered — about the future of Thiokol's solid fuel booster production after the motors are no longer needed for the shuttle, due to retire in 2010.

But rumor, at least, has the future looking toward the moon and Mars.

Story continues below
Officials with both the company and NASA refused to confirm reports of a leaked NASA memo supposedly saying the northern Utah rocket builder will play a vital role in the next generation of rockets.

A rumor has been circulating that NASA wants Thiokol's boosters to power spacecraft that may carry Americans back to the moon and eventually to Mars. One Internet site, "The Houston Chronicles," speculates the northern Utah rocket maker "is currently the leading candidate for next generation launch systems."

Scott Horowitz, director of space transportation and exploration for Thiokol — a former astronaut who has orbited in four shuttle flights — said the company has been working for a couple of years on its designs for the next generation of space vehicles. A crew-launch vehicle and a heavy-lift cargo vehicle both would use Thiokol motors, he said in an interview shortly before the test.

For the crew-launch vehicle, he said, "The first stage is the same as the motor that we're going to see out here tested today, a four-segment, solid-rocket motor."

The heavy-lift vehicle would be like the shuttle lifters but with a cargo shell instead of the shuttle. The twin boosters would be bigger — five segments instead of the four used with the shuttle.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image

Clouds of brown and white smoke billow into the air as Thiokol successfully fires a rocket booster at Promontory on Tuesday.

previousnext

Latest comments

the line play happens like that when you have 5 WR with no extra help. ...

1 -1-2005 - FIESTA BOWL - Utah 35, Pittsburgh 7 12-29-2005 - Emerald Bowl -...

badger is a beast - nuff said

Fort Hood suspect charged

Amen. We should all be concerned if it is Army protocol to transfer a...

Should be a good exhibition type game for the Aggies to help them get ready...

Utah: $850M budget shortfall

I could take the legislature seriously if they cut their salary and benefits...

I'd love to have the Deseret News pay for me to eat at all these places. How...

Pratt pleads not guilty to sex charges

i have never (in the last four years since my children started attending lone...

Editorial: Mormons and gay rights

"The church is against all sexual encounters outside of marriage. True. But...

Congratulations coach Wong, Van Orden, etc. Way to have these boys prepared...

Advertisements
Advertisement