NASA Buys Additional Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motors

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA has purchased two reusable solid rocket motors from ATK Launch Systems Inc. of Brigham City, Utah, to provide a "launch on need" rescue capability for the final planned space shuttle mission, targeted for September 2010.

The reusable solid rocket motors are the propellant-loaded sections of the solid rocket boosters that provide thrust for the first two minutes of a shuttle flight. The $64.6 million modification brings the total value of the contract, which was awarded in October 1998, to $4.1 billion and covers work started in February to produce and transport the two motors.

Work will be performed at the contractor's plants in Brigham City and Clearfield, Utah, and facilities at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and Kennedy Space Center in Florida.