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Article: Rocket test big success; Alliant's rocket motor wows NASA.(BUSINESS)
- Article from:
- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
- Article date:
- October 24, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Star Tribune Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Dee DePass; Staff Writer
Edina-based Alliant Techsystems successfully tested the nation's largest space shuttle rocket motor Thursday, giving NASA new options for greatly increased payloads and for emergency orbits in the event of a post-launch engine failure.
NASA officials were thrilled with the test, calling it the "most powerful shuttle solid rocket motor ever tested" and noting that it proved ATK's motor "can be pushed close to the edge and yet still perform flawlessly."
The blazing 128-second test, performed at Alliant's ATK Thiokol Propulsion Division in Promontory, Utah, attracted 7,000 spectators who watched an engineering first as flames and ...