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Final test on shuttle rocket conducted
About 5,000 people showed up to watch
Updated: Thursday, 25 Feb 2010, 3:05 PM EST
Published : Thursday, 25 Feb 2010, 3:05 PM EST
PROMONTORY, Utah (AP) - The Utah company that makes booster rockets for the soon-to-be retired space shuttle has conducted its final ground test.
Thursday's test by Alliant Techsystems and NASA at Promontory signals the end of the shuttle program. Company officials say it went smoothly and about 5,000 people showed up to watch.
The test — with the 126-foot rocket anchored horizontally to the ground — ignited more than a million pounds of propellant in a split second that burned off in about two minutes.
The rocket is the same kind that will help lift the space shuttle in its last four scheduled missions.
Clearfield-based ATK Space Systems has laid off 970 workers in Utah since in October, citing the phase-out of the shuttle and the Minuteman III ballistic missile programs.
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