I think you mean the solid rocket boosters. The liquid fuel tank burns up on re-entry. A couple of years ago we were sailing down the east coast and crossed through the recovery area - about 30 miles off of St.Augustine. They were preparing to close the exclusion zone to ship traffic for a launch. There are a series of yellow platforms out there that have some function for the recovery operation, and I suppose to warn inattentive skippers. The thought of those monster rocket bodies dropping into the ocean was as outlandish as everything else about the space shuttle. I understand they tow them back to Canaveral.

Posted by Bubby on 3 April 2008 @ 3pm

Wait, you mean you can’t just go, “Hey, today’s a beautiful day. I feel like going to space! Now where did I leave my EVA suit?” :-)

Posted by Tim McCormack on 6 April 2008 @ 4pm

Oh, and Bubby appears to be correct. I thought it was the other way around as well!

Posted by Tim McCormack on 6 April 2008 @ 4pm

I thought so, too — thanks for that, Bubby!

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 7 April 2008 @ 3pm