Jump to content

Riding the Booster


scannon

Recommended Posts

Early in my aerospace career I worked for Thiokol, the rocket factory in Utah that designed and built the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) for the shuttle. During the pre-test phase I had to go in through the nozzle and crawl to the forward end (it was on a test horizontal stand) and take pictures of the grain where the ignighter was located. The empty core is just high enough to crawl on your hands and knees and you are surrounded by about 1,000,000 lb of solid rocket fuel.

 

It was a little creepy being in there taking pictures with an electronic flash. On the long chance that the flash gun exploded we would have been incinerated almost instantly.

 

I got to witness two test firings while there. Pretty amazing show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...