| Existing comment:
TU-772 Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor. Measures 149 feet in length, 12 feet 2 inches in diameter. "The Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) is the largest man-rated solid rocket motor ever flown and the only booster capable of recovery and reuse. Developed for NASA by Thiokol in the mid-1970's, the RSRM was successfully static tested on July 18 1977. During the first 122 seconds of each flight, two RSRM's provide 80 percent of the thrust needed to accelerate the Shuttle to a speed of 3,094 miles per hour before separating from the orbiter and external tank and an altitude of 24 nautical miles. Nearly seven minutes after separation, the spent boosters parachute into the Atlantic Ocean approximately 140 nautical miles downrange from Kennedy Space Center. The recovered boosters are disassembled in Florida and returned to Thiokol's Space Operations plant in Utah, where they are refurbished for use on future Space Shuttle flights." |