NASA investigates train derailment at space center

File image of the space shuttle on a launch pad at Kennedy Space Center

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) -- NASA is investigating the minor derailment this week of a train carrying solid-fuel rocket booster segments at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, a spokesman said Thursday.

The mishap occurred Tuesday on a track linking storage and assembly areas within the central Florida spaceport, NASA spokesman George Diller said.

A train comprised of a locomotive, a water car and six cars carrying the rocket booster segments was crossing a switch when the rear wheels of one car and the front wheels of another slid off the track, Diller said.

The train was traveling at 3 mph and the cars did not tip or rupture but about 30 feet of track was moderately damaged.

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"It's a very minor derailment as railroad derailments go," Diller said.

The booster parts were secured in cradles within the train cars, with gauges attached to measure the forces they are subjected to during the ride. Diller said the force of the impact was too minor to register on the gauges.

The cars were still sitting on the track pending a NASA investigation that Diller said was expected to conclude "within the next few weeks." The derailment was believed to be the first at Kennedy, which has moved heavy rocket parts around the space center by rail since the Apollo moon missions in the 1960s.

Diller said the rocket booster parts were to be used for a future shuttle mission and the incident would not affect the shuttle schedule. The next launch has been set for September 8, when Atlantis is to carry a load of equipment to the International Space Station.

Each shuttle uses two solid-fuel boosters to help it lift off the ground and quickly attain the speed needed to carry it away from Earth's gravity. Each booster has four segments, made from a mixture of ammonium perchlorate and aluminum powder that Diller said was stable.

"From a safety standpoint, they're very safe to handle and transport. They're not volatile as they sit on a rail car," he said. "It's very hard to get those ignited ... but once they start they really burn."

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