Firing of space shuttle's reusable motor 'routine' but thrilling

PROMONTORY, Box Elder County — Alliant Techsystems' rocket motor firing Thursday afternoon was routine — if that word is appropriate for a long brilliant flame, an unearthly thunder roll, a tremble of air pressure, boiling smoke and dust, and a thrilled crowd.

The static test of a space shuttle reusable motor had several main objectives. They included getting measurements to help design the next generation Ares rocket, which is planned to take astronauts to the International Space Station, back to the moon and eventually to Mars. Also, according to ATK, the test was to obtain temperature and pressure data and check performance of field joints using O-rings and gaskets manufactured with low-temperature seal material.

Almost every part of the four-segment motor casings had flown several times as boosters for the space shuttle, from the first launch in 1981 to a space-station visit in 2000.

From the public viewing area a little less than a mile and a half from static test bed T-24, the motor looked like a white pipe laying on the ground, and to its left was a long shed decorated with an American flag. The shed had protected the motor from weather and was rolled away shortly before the firing.

About 2,000 watchers, including 600 or 700 students who arrived in 14 bright yellow school buses, kept their eyes on that distant pipe as the loudspeakers broadcast the countdown. Many began chanting: three, two, one. When flame flashed from the rocket tube, they gasped and cheered. Moments later their voices were drowned by a powerful wall of sound.

For two minutes, the motor fired, white-yellow flame kicking up larger and more dramatic clouds, sending vibrations through the spectators. Suddenly it shut off with a dying red flare and a small white cloud. The vast pillar of smoke continued to rise and spread in the blue sky.

Cassidy Ritz, 11, had watched the firing with her father, Cory. The Farmington residents were beaming widely when the test ended.

"It was incredible," Cory Ritz said. "I had never seen one before, and I was surprised how you could feel it, and the brightness of the flame. It was far more than I expected."

Cassidy agreed. "I think it was really cool ... because I hadn't seen one, and the flames were huge. I was surprised how much smoke came out."

Her dad added that this experience made him resolve to take the entire family to see the next one. Also, he said, the test "makes me want to go to Florida to watch a shuttle launch. It was amazing."