WHAT: Full-scale, full-duration test of a space shuttle reusable solid rocket flight support motor

WHERE: The test facility of ATK Launch Systems, a unit of Alliant Techsystems Inc., in Promontory, Utah, north of Salt Lake City

WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006, 6 p.m. MST (7 p.m. CST)

NASA will conduct a two-minute, static firing of a space shuttle flight support motor at a Utah test facility. The motor firing will provide the Space Shuttle Program with nighttime vehicle imagery performance data on how image quality is affected by night launch conditions. The motor firing also will provide two test objectives for the Ares I crew launch vehicle and NASA's future exploration goals to return humans to the moon.

Flight support motors are tested by the Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Project Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., to qualify any proposed changes to the rocket motor and to determine whether new materials perform as well as those now in use.

For supporting materials for this news release - such as photographs, fact sheets, video and audio files and more - please visit the NASA Marshall Center Newsroom Web site at:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news

News media attending the test must register in advance with ATK Launch Systems. A pass is required to attend. Requests must be in place by 4 p.m. MST, Wednesday November 15. Interviews may be prearranged in advance with ATK and NASA representatives. If you are bringing live broadcast equipment, please schedule in advance. For more information and to request a media pass contact Trina Paskett (801) 251-3517 or (801) 699-0943.