Final test of space shuttle rocket motor ends an era

PROMONTORY, Box Elder County — The official final year of the NASA space shuttle program began here Thursday with a two-minute test burn of a reusable solid fuel rocket motor like those that have launched 105 missions in the past 30 years.

Engineers and scientists at Alliant Techsystems, which designed and built the motors for NASA, will spend weeks going over the performance data gathered during the 120-second "static" test to find out for sure if the motors are capable of making four more missions.

From the outside, with about 3,000 onlookers some three miles away, the 126-foot-long, 12-foot-diameter motor displayed all of its 15 million horsepower throughout the duration of the test. Some in the crowd said they had passed up seeing a test too many times to remember — 52 tests have been held at the facility since 1988 — and the spectators noted that they had thought they weren't likely to ever have a first time if they didn't go this time.

The 52 other times have provided ATK the chance to refine and verify safety and flight hardware. The rocket is the most reliable, safest and refined human-rated rocket motor ever made, ATK engineers said, noting they were stating fact, not bragging.

They nevertheless pitched the track record hard, not just out of sentimental reasons but because they also designed and built the prototype rocket, Ares I, that until two weeks ago appeared to be the vehicle for the next era of crewed space travel that would include return visits to the moon in about seven years.

President Barack Obama's first budget proposal in effect pulls the plug on the Ares I rocket and the Constellation program. The brand new rocket, test flown this past October, is outdated even before it goes into production.

"An era may be ending, but that doesn't mean things are over," said Charlie Precourt, vice president and general manager of space launch systems and a four-time shuttle astronaut. "These solid rocket motors are an investment in technology and infrastructure. The safety, history and quality of the past 30 years is part and parcel to the Ares I, which is nearly showroom ready."

That strikes him and other engineers at the company as the ideal transition vehicle, not a $9 billion lemon that some in Washington seem to be portraying it as, said Ken Rominger, a five-mission shuttle astronaut and vice president of test and research operations.

When asked where space exploration goes now, Rominger said that wherever it is, "Constellation has been and should remain how we get there."

e-mail: jthalman@desnews.com