Author Topic: STS-116: BI-128 (SRBs) Post Flight Pics (Read 13371 times)

Chris Bergin · « **on:** 12/19/2006 02:13 am »

Cool set of photos that have been kindly sent to us

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #1 on:** 12/19/2006 02:14 am »

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #2 on:** 12/19/2006 02:15 am »

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #3 on:** 12/19/2006 02:16 am »

jcopella · « **Reply #4 on:** 12/19/2006 04:35 am »

Great pictures Chris, thanks. And thanks to your source!

rfoshaug · « **Reply #5 on:** 12/19/2006 09:56 am »

Looks like used up fireworks remains on New Year's Day. Thanks for the pictures!

shuttlefan · « **Reply #6 on:** 12/19/2006 01:00 pm »

Great pics. Chris!!

DarthVader · « **Reply #7 on:** 12/19/2006 02:53 pm »

Great pics indeed, thanks to whoever sent them :-)

Jonesy STS · « **Reply #8 on:** 12/19/2006 03:05 pm »

Surprised at how small the nozel is at the end, but these solids are big secrets right? Only a few at ATK apparently know how they mix the fuel?

Jim · « **Reply #9 on:** 12/19/2006 03:12 pm »

Quote

Jonesy STS - 19/12/2006 10:48 AM

Surprised at how small the nozel is at the end, but these solids are big secrets right? Only a few at ATK apparently know how they mix the fuel?

The nozzle extension is severed right before splashdown. The diameter of the extension is almost the same as the aft skirt. Actually, they aren't a big secret

Mark Nguyen · « **Reply #10 on:** 12/19/2006 03:14 pm »

So I take it the nozzles are discarded and the segments are resused, right?

Mark

Jim · « **Reply #11 on:** 12/19/2006 03:27 pm »

The nozzle sinks soon after hitting the water and yes, the segments are reused, including the aft skirt and fustrum

Avron · « **Reply #12 on:** 12/20/2006 04:26 am »

What is quite amazing is the four holddown bolt holes.. the flanges really don't look like they can take half a fully loaded vehicle, that is in the "twang" 3.3 secs before the SRB's light

nathan.moeller · « **Reply #13 on:** 01/07/2007 06:01 am »

Quote

Jim - 19/12/2006 9:55 AM

The nozzle extension is severed right before splashdown. The diameter of the extension is almost the same as the aft skirt. Actually, they aren't a big secret

Any particular reason for discarding the extension? My guess would be that it's fried anyway and holds no possibility of future use. But I'm and architect-in-training not an engineer hahaha.

Jim · « **Reply #14 on:** 01/07/2007 01:18 pm »

The whole nozzle is one time use. The extension is severed before splashdown to reduce impact loads on the aft skirt and the components in it

Paul Howard · « **Reply #15 on:** 02/28/2007 02:39 am »

Missed this thread. Very interesting images I've not seen before.

Zoomer30 · « **Reply #16 on:** 03/01/2007 06:53 pm »

I have seen the nozzle come off on the SRB RocketCam videos. It happens about 30 secs before splashdown, on the views that look "down" the SRB, you see and hear a loud "pop" and a puff of smoke and flame. I have seen it on 2 different flight videos so that must be the nozzle being blown off.

astronaut23 · « **Reply #17 on:** 03/10/2007 09:27 am »

Dang, I've never seen a picture of an SRB after flight. That aft skirt and nozzle looks really bad.

MKremer · « **Reply #18 on:** 03/10/2007 09:51 am »

Quote

astronaut23 - 10/3/2007 4:27 AM

Dang, I've never seen a picture of an SRB after flight. That aft skirt and nozzle looks really bad.

Well, lotsa heat during flight, more heat (intermittently) during tumbling before the parachutes, then the explosive nozzle separation and ~60mph water impact... it's kind of impressive the components in the aft frustrum survive at all.

E_ E_ H · « **Reply #19 on:** 04/26/2007 02:30 pm »

How many complete SRBs are there?

MKremer · « **Reply #20 on:** 04/26/2007 02:38 pm »

Quote

E_ E_ H - 26/4/2007 9:30 AM

How many complete SRBs are there?

What do you mean by "complete"?

ETEE · « **Reply #21 on:** 04/26/2007 02:58 pm »

I expect he means how many SRBs can be made from the available components, if all were assembled.

Jim · « **Reply #22 on:** 04/26/2007 03:26 pm »

Quote

ETEE - 26/4/2007 10:58 AM

I expect he means how many SRBs can be made from the available components, if all were assembled.

It was on another thread:

There are 27 sets of SRM case segments sections on hand right now.
There are two case segment sections in each booster segment.
That it enough to build either 27 - 4 segment boosters or 21 - 5 segment boosters.
There are 23 flight worthy aft skirts on hand right now.

The company that made the SRM case segment sections is no longer in business, and the tooling is long gone.
Also the company that heat treated the segment sections no longer has the equipment to heat treat objects that large.

The aft skirts are not in prime condition any longer, as many of them have corrosion pitting from being exposed to salt water so many times.
The tooling to make the castings and forgings that are used to fabricate an aft skirt are also long gone.

Gekko0481 · « **Reply #23 on:** 05/20/2007 09:17 am »

Jesus, some cool pics. Most of the photo's you see commonly on the internet do not do justice to the sheer scale of these things, except when you see someone standing underneath the stack or one of the boosters as shown here. I HAVE to get to florida before 2010...