Solid Rocket Motor, Qualification Motor-6 Static Test

Solid Rocket Motor, Qualification Motor-6 Static Test

Qualification Motor-6 Static Test

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)

NASA

Space Shuttle Program (U.S.)

As a result of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, primary contractor Morton Thiokol redesigned the solid rocket boosters for the shuttle. This photograph features a static test of the redesigned rocket booster for flight qualification and was conducted at the manufacturer facility in Utah. The Space Shuttle was meant as a reusable alternative to the traditional ballistic rockets used to launch manned spacecraft in the 1960s and 1970s. From 1981 to 2011, when the fleet was retired, five shuttles were flown over 130 times. It was the first space launch system that was mostly reusable, as the shuttles themselves and the solid rocket boosters were reused multiple times. Space shuttles were launched from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) and Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) at John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Merritt Island, Florida.

Original color photographic print, April 20, 1988: Leonard Pugh Collection.

1988-04-20

Digital reproduction of original color photographic print, April 20, 1988.

Florida Space Coast History Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.

image/jpg

107 KB

1 color photographic print

Still Image

Utah

Donation

History Teacher

Civics/Government Teacher

Copyright to this resource is held by Leonard Pugh and is provided here by RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.

Michlowitz, Robert

Cepero, Laura

"The Shuttle." National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Accessed August 21, 2015. http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/the_shuttle/.

1 color photographic print