DEMOPOLIS, Alabama (AP) - A
freight train carrying segments of the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters
derailed Wednesday after a bridge collapsed, authorities said. Six people were
reported injured.
NASA sent teams to check on the whether
the equipment was damaged, space agency spokesman Kyle Herring said.
He said the booster
segments, which were on their way to Florida, were not scheduled for use during
the next shuttle flight, set
for launch June 8, but for missions in October and
December.
The condition of the
injured was not immediately disclosed. The cause of the bridge collapse was
under investigation.
The Alabama Emergency
Management Agency said that none of the cargo spilled. The train landed on its
side on the ground in a wooded area, and there appeared to be no fire, EMA
spokesman Jeff Byard.
The shuttle's twin boosters
are 120 feet (36.6 meters) 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 often reused.
As for the effect of the
derailment on future missions, Herring said it was too soon to tell.
A leak of burning gas
between two segments of a solid booster rocket caused the Challenger explosion
that killed seven astronauts in 1986.
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