Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters

Twin Solid Rocket Boosters are going to VAB

The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) are the first-stagerockets made for Space Shuttle. The Space Launch System will also use them. They are the most powerful rocket motors ever flown. Each rocket generates 13,800 kilonewtons of thrust during the first two minutes of flight. Before the rocket reached orbit, the SRBs were released and fell into the Atlantic Ocean where they were towed back to shore for reuse.

Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters Media

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  Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) separation

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  An exploded diagram showing the components of a Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster.

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  Sections of the SRB filled with propellant being connected

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  SRB sea-level thrust, data from STS-107

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  Splashdown of the right hand SRB from the launch of STS-124.

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  The solid rocket boosters, jettisoned from the Space Shuttle Discovery following the launch of STS-116, floating in the Atlantic Ocean about 150 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral. On this occasion, the boosters landed several miles apart, but overnight winds and currents drifted them to the same location

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  Solid rocket booster of the STS-131 mission being recovered and transported to Cape Canaveral by the MV Freedom Star.

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  Camera captures grey smoke being emitted from the right-hand SRB on Space Shuttle Challenger just after booster ignition at the start of the ill-fated STS-51-L.

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  The right SRB shows an anomalous plume at T+58.788 seconds. This plume would trigger the breakup of the vehicle 14 seconds later.