CORRECTION: Leslie Woerner, a real estate agent in Brigham City, worked at ATK Space Systems more than 20 years ago. A story in Friday's newspaper misstated the length of time she worked for the company.
PROMONTORY -- The final firing of a space shuttle booster motor was a glaring, roaring, vibrating success, but Leslie Woerner says the solid line of cars creeping through morning fog to the test site only added to her feeling that something great is dying.
"It was like a funeral procession with all the lights," she said.
Woerner, of Brigham City, anticipated a fgood show, but uncertainty weighed on her.
"My husband has been working (at ATK) 30 years and made it through the last two layoffs," she said. He doesn't know what the next layoffs will mean.
Woerner's son and daughter-in-law work at ATK. They're expecting a baby.
"The next layoff is in May, but we don't ... " and she paused.
"You think you're going to be here all your whole life. But you're not."
There was a lot of uncertainty mixed with anticipation at ATK on Thursday. The space shuttle will be discontinued after four more flights this year. ATK is laying off an estimated 800 employees this year because of the demise of the shuttle program.
Thursday's test was to prove the final production run of five sets of motors, including a spare.
The test went off without a hitch.
The motor lit on time, sending a blinding bright light and thunder rolling over more than 5,000 people crowding the viewing area 20 miles west of Brigham City. The sound was so intense that vibrations shook clothing.
A massive white plume of exhaust, which ATK employees said was mostly solid-fuel residue that would fall to Earth, billowed thousands of feet into the sky. The motor burned for two minutes. When it was done, a round of cheering and applause rose from spectators.
ATK will test an Ares booster this fall, but its future for the big motors is in doubt.
President Obama's proposed budget for 2011 doesn't include the shuttle's successor, the Constellation program. Constellation would use Ares boosters made of the same motor segments as the shuttle boosters.
Ares isn't dead yet. Utah's congressional delegation and congressmen in other states where Constellation components are made are working to fund the program.
Almost everything ATK officials said Thursday was with an eye to boosting the booster program. Over and over they said, "Why would you cut something that works so well?"
Kent Rominger, five-time shuttle astronaut and vice president of ATK's Test and Research, said Ares represents NASA's new vision for space exploration.
After the moon missions ended, he said, astronauts found themselves stuck orbiting Earth, literally going nowhere fast.
"It's in our genetic build to explore," he said Thursday morning as he looked at the motor before the test. "We need to go see what's out there, and being the leader of the world in exploring benefits our country."
Hauling cargo to the International Space Station didn't cut it. "We needed a vision, and we didn't have one for about five years. It wasn't until the vision President Bush rolled out (to send astronauts to Mars) that we had a wonderful focused vision."
Charles Precourt, four-flight shuttle veteran and ATK vice president and general manager of launch systems, didn't stop when he said "initial test data is looking really good" at the news conference following the test. He took the opportunity to hail an "incredibly performing, reliable rocket motor."
Woerner agrees with Precourt and Rominger about space exploration and the nation's future, but has personal reasons for wanting Congress to fund Ares: job security for her family.
It wouldn't hurt her fortunes either. She left a job at ATK to go into real estate more than 20 years ago. With ATK laying off hundreds in Box Elder County, that career is not looking so good right now.
Which was why she had time to go to the test Thursday, and why all those headlights in the morning fog affected her.
"Everybody had their lights on. It was like going to a funeral. So sad. We just need our space program."
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