KSC-04pd-2381

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), media are shown where the Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) for the Return to Flight mission STS-114 will be stacked on the Mobile Launcher Platform. The aft skirt and lower segment segment have been transported from the Rotation Processing and Surge Facility to the VAB. Other segments will follow. Two SRBs support the liftoff of the Space Shuttle on a launch. The twin 149-foot tall, 12-foot diameter SRBs provide the main propulsion system during launch to place the 180,000-pound orbiters in the proper orbit around the Earth. They operate parallel with the Space Shuttle main engines for the first two minutes of flight and jettison away from the orbiter with help from the Booster Separation Motors, about 26.3 nautical miles above the Earth’s surface.