ANSWER KEY: Solid Rocket Boosters

Directions
Complete the following activities using the solid rocket booster information sheet.

Your Mission: 
Your launch team needs the missing information to complete the launch. Find the key terms or numbers and accurately fill in each blank.
1.	Each booster rocket is attached to either side of the external tank (ET) and is 149.16 feet (45.46 meters) tall with a diameter of 12.17 feet (3.7 meters). Each SRB weighs approximately 1,300,000 pounds (589,670 kilograms) at launch with roughly 85 percent being the weight of the solid fuel itself.
2.	The solid rocket boosters (SRB) operate in parallel with the main engines for the first two minutes of flight to provide the additional thrust needed for the orbiter to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth. At an altitude of approximately 45 km (24 nautical miles), the boosters separate from the orbiter/external tank, descend on parachutes, and land in the Atlantic Ocean.
3.	In addition to the solid rocket motor, the booster contains the structural, thrust vector control, separation, recovery, and electrical and instrumentation subsystems. 
4.	The two SRBs provide 71.4 percent of the main thrust needed to lift the Space Shuttle off the launch pad. Each booster has a thrust of approximately 3,300,000 pounds (14,685 kilonewtons) at launch and help lift the Shuttle up to an altitude of about 150,000 feet, or 28 miles (50 kilometers).
5.	The solid fuel, or propellant, is a mixture of ammonium perchlorate, aluminum, and iron oxide.

Your Mission: 
Write these statistics in scientific notation. Don’t forget to label your units. The first one is done for you.

Booster Statistic		Write the number without the place-holding zeros	Place the decimal point after the first digit 	Count the number of places you moved the decimal point	Write the number in scientific notation	
Thrust at lift-off 1,202,000 kg	1202	1.202	1.202000	1.202 x 106 kg	
Propellant Weight
502,000 kg	502	5.02	5.02000	5.02 x 105 kg	
Gross weight 589,700 kg	5897	5.897	5.89700	5.897 x 105 kg	
Gross weight
1,300,000 lb	13	1.3	1.300000	1.3 x 106 lb	
Thrust of both boosters 
5,300,000 lb	53	5.3	5.300000	5.3 x 106 lb	

Your Mission: 
Label the orbiter parts below.