Battered, scorched and rusting, three vast cylinders stand in the static park as silent witnesses to the scale and power of Europe's space ambitions. Along with a corroded nose cone trailing cables, they formed one of the two solid rocket boosters that powered an early qualification flight of the European Ariane 5 heavy booster. Built by EADS and Europropulsion (Snecma/Fiat Avio) and capable of swallowing a couple of Metro carriages whole, the booster generated 600 tonnes to help lift the big launcher into orbit before falling into the sea off Kourou in South America.
Source: Flight Daily News
