[MDarius]

Hey all! I took the family to a night test launch of a space shuttle booster tonight. It was incredible. I hope the kids will always remember it. They say they haven't done a night test for nearly 25 years. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. At that rate, with the future of the shuttle program looking to change, this may be the last one ever. I think the only place you can see something like this is Florida, Utah, and now the private launch site in New Mexico. Very cool. The pics were too big to load on mud, but check them out at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/foutsm/A...sterTestLaunch

[Biscuit]

There will likely be many more test firings, most during the day, of the RSRM (reusable solid rocket motor), a.k.a. solid rocket booster, thanks to it being used as the first stage on the Ares I rocket that is going to take Americans into orbit starting in 2014.

What you saw tonight wasn't only a test to see how much light the RSRM throws out at night, but also tested several things for the Ares I. Look at it as the first engine fired for a new vehicle.

[MDarius]

That's cool. I had no idea. Thanks for the update!

[Franky40]

They had live shots on the news last night from a helicopter, pretty impressive.