Freight train carrying space shuttle parts derails

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An Associated Press report last week says that a freight train transporting parts of the space shuttle's rocket boosters wrecked after a bridge collapsed in Myrtlewood, Alabama.

In the report, six people onboard were said to have been injured in the train accident. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the bridge's collapse.

NASA reported that the train derailment is not expected to delay future launches; however, they did not report on the extent of damage to the parts.

The shuttle's twin boosters are 150 feet tall and consist of four propellant segments each. They are used during liftoff and the first two minutes or so of flight to help the spacecraft break free of Earth's orbit, and are then jettisoned into the sea, after which they are recovered, refurbished and reused.