ATK Sets Final Shuttle Rocket Test

ATK Space Systems in Promontory Utah says the ground test, scheduled for February 25, will signal the end of the space shuttle program.

ATK, the company that makes booster rockets for the space shuttle, says it will conduct a final test firing in northern Utah later this month.

NASA had intended to replace the space shuttle with a new spaceship and launcher for travel to the moon and beyond, however, President Barack Obama has proposed scrapping the new program for something different, leaving NASA's longtime contractor in Utah with an uncertain future.

Clearfield-based ATK Space Systems has laid off 970 workers in Utah since October, citing the phase-out of the space shuttle and the Minuteman III ballistic missile programs.