NASA RAILROAD KEEPS SHUTTLE'S BOOSTERS ON THE RIGHT TRACK

For nearly three decades, the NASA Railroad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida has kept the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters on track.The mighty boosters fly in pairs and generate a combined 5.3 million pounds of thrust at ignition, pushing the shuttle assembly past the grip of Earth's gravity during the critical first two minutes of flight. Stacked within each of the 15-story-tall, reusable boosters are four solid rocket motor segments packed with a hard, rubbery cocktail of propellants.

Getting the 12-foot-wide, 150-ton segments to the launch site is only possible by rail. The segments are loaded by manufacturer ATK at a plant in Promontory, Utah, then shipped in customized train cars on a seven-day trip to Kennedy.

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