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Freight train with shuttle parts derails - AP

by Actual News Geezer | May 2, 2007 at 05:26 pm | 324 views | 1 comment

AP is reporting the derailment of a freight train containing rocket boosters for the US space shuttle. There are early reports of injuries but no evacuations. The rocket fuel, "aluminum perchlorate, has the consistency of a rubber eraser and there was no danger of it igniting, according to NASA," AP reported.

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The shuttle's twin boosters are 150 feet tall and consist of four propellant segments each. They are used during liftoff and the first two minutes or so of flight to help the spacecraft break free of Earth's orbit, and are then jettisoned into the sea, after which they are recovered, refurbished and reused.