title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: The Ukrainian government says that the garrison consisted of 13 guardsmen from the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, while Russia reported that 82 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered. The Ukrainian government initially reported that they believed all 13 members of the garrison had died in the attack and President Volodymyr Zelensky posthumously awarded the Hero of Ukraine, Ukraine's highest award, to the 13 defenders. On 27 February 2022, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said that they believed the 13 guardsmen may be still alive. On 24 March 2022, Ukraine and Russia conducted a prisoner exchange that freed 19 Ukrainian sailors, which included the crew of the "Sapphire", but it is unknown whether it also included any guardsmen. On 29 March 2022, the Defence Ministry of Ukraine posted on Twitter that the author of the infamous phrase had been freed from captivity and given a medal for bravery.


title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: The Ukrainian Postal Service in April 2022 issued a stamp showing a Ukrainian soldier showing the finger (an offensive gesture of defiance) to the Russian ship "Moskva".


title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: On 7 May, the Ukrainian military released a video of a Baykar Bayraktar TB2-based missile attack against a Russian Serna-class landing craft near Snake Island. Ukraine claimed the craft, used for amphibious landings, was destroyed, meanwhile Russia claims it has been repaired and will soon return to service. Two Ukrainian Su-27s made a bombing raid on or before 7 May. The raid was filmed by a TB2 drone.


title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: On 31 May, Ukraine claimed that Russia had reinforced its forces on Snake Island, with extra S-300 missile systems and additional ships from the Black Sea Fleet. The report claimed some extra 15 units of equipment were added.


title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: On 1 June, Ukraine claimed that Russian forces had installed multiple rocket launchers on the island.


title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: On 30 June 2022, Russia announced that it had withdrawn troops from the island in a "gesture of goodwill" after military objectives were complete. According to Ukraine, a hasty withdrawal of Russian forces followed what Ukraine's armed forces claimed to be a series of devastating attacks on the strategically important island and any vessel bringing troops and weapons. On 30 June 2022 Reuters reported that "New weapons sent by the West made the Russian garrison even more vulnerable, especially HIMARS, a rocket system supplied by the United States which Ukraine began fielding last week. Russia's abandonment of the island was 'likely a tangible result of NATO arms deliveries to Ukraine', said Rob Lee of the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute."


title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: On 1 July, in a statement, the Ukrainian army said: “Today at around 18:00 … Russian air force Su-30 planes twice conducted strikes with phosphorus bombs on Zmiinyi island,”


title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: The status of Snake Island was important for delimitation of continental shelf and exclusive economic zones between Romania and Ukraine. If Snake Island were recognized as an island, then continental shelf around it should be considered as Ukrainian water. If Snake Island were not an island, but a rock, then in accordance with international law the maritime boundary between Romania and Ukraine should be drawn without taking into consideration the isle location.


title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: On 4 July 2003, the President of Romania Ion Iliescu and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed a treaty about friendship and cooperation. Romania promised not to contest territories of Ukraine or Moldova, which it lost to the Soviet Union after World War II, but requested that Russia as a successor of the Soviet Union recognized in some form its responsibility for what had happened.


title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: On 16 September 2004, the Romanian side brought a case against Ukraine to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a dispute concerning the maritime boundary between the two States in the Black Sea.


title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: In 2007, Ukraine founded the small settlement of Bile on the island, which was criticized by Romania.


title: Snake Island (Ukraine)

text: On 3 February 2009, the ICJ delivered its judgment, which divided the sea area of the Black Sea along a line which was between the claims of each country. The Court invoked the disproportionality test in adjudicating the dispute, noting that the ICJ, "as its jurisprudence has indicated, it may on occasion decide not to take account of very small islands or decide not to give them their full potential entitlement to maritime zones, should such an approach have a disproportionate effect on the delimitation line under consideration" and owing to a previous agreement between Ukraine and Romania, the island "should have no effect on the delimitation in this case, other than that stemming from the role of the 12-nautical-mile arc of its territorial sea" previously agreed between the parties.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) was the first solid-propellant rocket to be used for primary propulsion on a vehicle used for human spaceflight. A pair of these provided 85% of the Space Shuttle's thrust at liftoff and for the first two minutes of ascent. After burnout, they were jettisoned and parachuted into the Atlantic Ocean where they were recovered, examined, refurbished, and reused.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The Space Shuttle SRBs were the most powerful solid rocket motors to ever launch humans. The Space Launch System (SLS) SRBs, adapted from the shuttle, surpassed it as the most powerful solid rocket motors ever flown, after the launch of the Artemis-1 mission. Each Space Shuttle SRB provided a maximum thrust, roughly double the most powerful single-combustion chamber liquid-propellant rocket engine ever flown, the Rocketdyne F-1. With a combined mass of about , they comprised over half the mass of the Shuttle stack at liftoff. The motor segments of the SRBs were manufactured by Thiokol of Brigham City, Utah, which was later purchased by ATK. The prime contractor for most other components of the SRBs, as well as for the integration of all the components and retrieval of the spent SRBs, was USBI, a subsidiary of Pratt and Whitney. This contract was subsequently transitioned to United Space Alliance, a limited liability company joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Out of 270 SRBs launched over the Shuttle program, all but four were recovered – those from STS-4 (due to a parachute malfunction) and STS-51-L (destroyed by range safety). Over 5,000 parts were refurbished for reuse after each flight. The final set of SRBs that launched STS-135 included parts that had flown on 59 previous missions, including STS-1. Recovery also allowed post-flight examination of the boosters, identification of anomalies, and incremental design improvements.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The two reusable SRBs provided the main thrust to lift the shuttle off the launch pad and up to an altitude of about . While on the pad, the two SRBs carried the entire weight of the external tank and orbiter and transmitted the weight load through their structure to the mobile launcher platform. Each booster had a liftoff thrust of approximately at sea level, increasing shortly after liftoff to about . They were ignited after the three RS-25 main engines' thrust level was verified. Seventy-five seconds after SRB separation, SRB apogee occurred at an altitude of approximately ; parachutes were then deployed and impact occurred in the ocean approximately downrange, after which the two SRBs were recovered. The SRBs helped take the Space Shuttle to an altitude of and a speed of along with the main engines.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The SRBs committed the shuttle to liftoff and ascent (to orbit) flight, without the possibility of launch or liftoff/ascent abort, until both motors had fully, and simultaneously, fulfilled their functions, consumed their propellants, were producing zero net reaction thrust and had been jettisoned (again simultaneously) by explosive jettisoning bolts from the remainder of the vehicle launch "stack" (shuttle w/engines; fuel/oxidizer tank). Only then could any conceivable set of launch or post-liftoff abort procedures be contemplated. In addition, failure of an individual SRB's thrust output or ability to adhere to the designed performance profile was probably not survivable.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The SRBs were the largest solid-propellant motors ever flown and the first of such large rockets designed for reuse. Each is long and in diameter. Each SRB weighed approximately at launch. The two SRBs constituted about 69% of the total lift-off mass. The primary propellants were ammonium perchlorate (oxidizer) and atomized aluminum powder (fuel), and the total propellant for each solid rocket motor weighed approximately (see ). The inert weight of each SRB was approximately .


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Primary elements of each booster were the motor (including case, propellant, igniter, and nozzle), structure, separation systems, operational flight instrumentation, recovery avionics, pyrotechnics, deceleration system, thrust vector control system, and range safety destruct system.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: While the terms "solid rocket motor" and "solid rocket booster" are often used interchangeably, in technical use they have specific meanings. The term "solid rocket motor" applied to the propellant, case, igniter and nozzle. "Solid rocket booster" applied to the entire rocket assembly, which included the rocket motor as well as the recovery parachutes, electronic instrumentation, separation rockets, range safety destruct system, and thrust vector control.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Each booster was attached to the external tank at the SRB's aft frame by two lateral sway braces and a diagonal attachment. The forward end of each SRB was attached to the external tank at the forward end of the SRB's forward skirt. On the launch pad, each booster also was attached to the mobile launcher platform at the aft skirt by four frangible nuts that were severed at liftoff.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The boosters were composed of seven individually manufactured steel segments. These were assembled in pairs by the manufacturer and then shipped to Kennedy Space Center by rail for final assembly. The segments were fixed together using circumferential tang, clevis, and clevis pin fastening, and sealed with O-rings (originally two, changed to three after the "Challenger" Disaster in 1986) and heat-resistant putty.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Each solid rocket booster had four hold-down posts that fit into corresponding support posts on the mobile launcher platform. Hold-down bolts held the SRB and launcher platform posts together. Each bolt had a nut at each end, the top one being a frangible nut. The top nut contained two NASA standard detonators (NSDs), which were ignited at solid rocket motor ignition commands.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: When the two NSDs were ignited at each hold down, the hold-down bolt traveled downward because of the release of tension in the bolt (pretensioned before launch), NSD gas pressure and gravity. The bolt was stopped by the stud deceleration stand, which contained sand. The SRB bolt was long and in diameter. The frangible nut was captured in a blast container.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The solid rocket motor ignition commands were issued by the orbiter's computers through the master events controllers to the hold-down pyrotechnic initiator controllers (PICs) on the mobile launcher platform. They provided the ignition to the hold-down NSDs. The launch processing system monitored the SRB hold-down PICs for low voltage during the last 16 seconds before launch. PIC low voltage would initiate a launch hold.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Electrical power distribution in each SRB consisted of orbiter-supplied main DC bus power to each SRB via SRB buses labeled A, B and C. Orbiter main DC buses A, B and C supplied main DC bus power to corresponding SRB buses A, B and C. In addition, orbiter main DC bus C supplied backup power to SRB buses A and B, and orbiter bus B supplied backup power to SRB bus C. This electrical power distribution arrangement allowed all SRB buses to remain powered in the event one orbiter main bus failed.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: There were two self-contained, independent Hydraulic Power Units (HPUs) on each SRB. Each HPU consisted of an auxiliary power unit (APU), fuel supply module, hydraulic pump, hydraulic reservoir and hydraulic fluid manifold assembly. The APUs were fueled by hydrazine and generated mechanical shaft power to drive a hydraulic pump that produced hydraulic pressure for the SRB hydraulic system. The two separate HPUs and two hydraulic systems were located on the aft end of each SRB between the SRB nozzle and aft skirt. The HPU components were mounted on the aft skirt between the rock and tilt actuators. The two systems operated from T minus 28 seconds until SRB separation from the orbiter and external tank. The two independent hydraulic systems were connected to the rock and tilt servoactuators.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The HPU controller electronics were located in the SRB aft integrated electronic assemblies on the aft external tank attach rings.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The HPUs and their fuel systems were isolated from each other. Each fuel supply module (tank) contained of hydrazine. The fuel tank was pressurized with gaseous nitrogen at , which provided the force to expel (positive expulsion) the fuel from the tank to the fuel distribution line, maintaining a positive fuel supply to the APU throughout its operation.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: In the APU, a fuel pump boosted the hydrazine pressure and fed it to a gas generator. The gas generator catalytically decomposed the hydrazine into hot, high-pressure gas; a two-stage turbine converted this into mechanical power, driving a gearbox. The waste gas, now cooler and at low pressure, was passed back over the gas generator housing to cool it before being dumped overboard. The gearbox drove the fuel pump, its own lubrication pump, and the HPU hydraulic pump. A startup bypass line went around the pump and fed the gas generator using the nitrogen tank pressure until the APU speed was such that the fuel pump outlet pressure exceeded that of the bypass line, at which point all the fuel was supplied to the fuel pump.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: When the APU speed reached 100%, the APU primary control valve closed, and the APU speed was controlled by the APU controller electronics. If the primary control valve logic failed to the open state, the secondary control valve assumed control of the APU at 112% speed.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Each HPU on an SRB was connected to both servoactuators on that SRB by a switching valve that allowed the hydraulic power to be distributed from either HPU to both actuators if necessary. Each HPU served as the primary hydraulic source for one servoactuator, and a secondary source for the other servoactuator. Each HPU possessed the capacity to provide hydraulic power to both servoactuators within 115% operational limits in the event that hydraulic pressure from the other HPU should drop below . A switch contact on the switching valve closed when the valve was in the secondary position. When the valve was closed, a signal was sent to the APU controller, that inhibited the 100% APU speed control logic and enabled the 112% APU speed control logic. The 100-percent APU speed enabled one APU/HPU to supply sufficient operating hydraulic pressure to both servoactuators of that SRB.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The hydraulic pump speed was 3,600 rpm and supplied hydraulic pressure of . A high pressure relief valve provided overpressure protection to the hydraulic system and relieved at .


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Each SRB had two hydraulic gimbal servoactuators, to move the nozzle up/down and side-to-side. This provided thrust vectoring to help control the vehicle in all three axes (roll, pitch, and yaw).


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The ascent thrust vector control portion of the flight control system directed the thrust of the three shuttle main engines and the two SRB nozzles to control shuttle attitude and trajectory during lift-off and ascent. Commands from the guidance system were transmitted to the Ascent Thrust Vector Control (ATVC) drivers, which transmitted signals proportional to the commands to each servoactuator of the main engines and SRBs. Four independent flight control system channels and four ATVC channels controlled six main engine and four SRB ATVC drivers, with each driver controlling one hydraulic port on each main and SRB servoactuator.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Each SRB servoactuator consisted of four independent, two-stage servovalves that received signals from the drivers. Each servovalve controlled one power spool in each actuator, which positioned an actuator ram and the nozzle to control the direction of thrust.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The four servovalves operating each actuator provided a force-summed majority-voting arrangement to position the power spool. With four identical commands to the four servovalves, the actuator force-sum action prevented, instantaneously, a single erroneous input affecting power ram motion. If differential-pressure sensing detected the erroneous input persisting over a predetermined time, an isolating valve would be selected, excluding it from the force-sum entirely. Failure monitors were provided for each channel to indicate which channel had been bypassed, and the isolation valve on each channel could be reset.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Each actuator ram was equipped with transducers for position feedback to the thrust vector control system. Within each servoactuator ram was a splashdown load relief assembly to cushion the nozzle at water splashdown and prevent damage to the nozzle flexible bearing.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Each SRB contained three rate gyro assemblies (RGAs), with each RGA containing one pitch and one yaw gyro. These provided an output proportional to angular rates about the pitch and yaw axes to the orbiter computers and guidance, navigation and control system during first-stage ascent flight in conjunction with the orbiter roll rate gyros until SRB separation. At SRB separation, a switchover was made from the SRB RGAs to the orbiter RGAs.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The SRB RGA rates passed through the orbiter flight aft multiplexers/demultiplexers to the orbiter GPCs. The RGA rates were then mid-value-selected in redundancy management to provide SRB pitch and yaw rates to the user software. The RGAs were designed for 20 missions.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The rocket propellant mixture in each solid rocket motor consisted of ammonium perchlorate (oxidizer, 69.6% by weight), atomized aluminum powder (fuel, 16%), iron oxide (catalyst, 0.4%), PBAN (binder, also acts as fuel, 12.04%), and an epoxy curing agent (1.96%). This propellant is commonly referred to as "ammonium perchlorate composite propellant" (APCP). This mixture gave the solid rocket motors a specific impulse of at sea level or in a vacuum. Upon ignition, the motor burned the fuel at a nominal chamber pressure of .


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The main fuel, aluminum, was used because it has a reasonable specific energy density of about 31.0 MJ/kg, but a high volumetric energy density, and is difficult to ignite accidentally.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The propellant had an 11-pointed star-shaped perforation in the forward motor segment and a double-truncated-cone perforation in each of the aft segments and aft closure. This configuration provided high thrust at ignition and then reduced the thrust by approximately a third 50 seconds after lift-off to avoid overstressing the vehicle during maximum dynamic pressure (max. Q).


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: SRB ignition can occur only when a manual lock pin from each SRB safe and arm device has been removed. The ground crew removes the pin during prelaunch activities. At T−5:00, the SRB safe and arm device is rotated to the arm position. The solid rocket motor ignition commands are issued when the three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) are at or above 90% of rated thrust, no SSME fail and/or SRB ignition Pyrotechnic Initiator Controller (PIC) low voltage is indicated and there are no holds from the Launch Processing System (LPS).


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The solid rocket motor ignition commands are sent by the orbiter computers through the Master Events Controllers (MECs) to the safe and arm device NASA standard detonators (NSDs) in each SRB. A PIC single-channel capacitor discharge device controls the firing of each pyrotechnic device. Three signals must be present simultaneously for the PIC to generate the pyro firing output. These signals, arm, fire 1 and fire 2, originate in the orbiter general-purpose computers (GPCs) and are transmitted to the MECs. The MECs reformat them to 28 volt DC signals for the PICs. The arm signal charges the PIC capacitor to 40 volts DC (minimum of 20 volts DC).


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The GPC launch sequence also controls certain critical main propulsion system valves and monitors the engine ready indications from the SSMEs. The MPS start commands are issued by the onboard computers at T−6.6 seconds (staggered start engine three, engine two, engine one all approximately within 0.25 of a second), and the sequence monitors the thrust buildup of each engine. All three SSMEs must reach the required 90% thrust within three seconds; otherwise, an orderly shutdown is commanded and safing functions are initiated.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Normal thrust buildup to the required 90% thrust level will result in the SSMEs being commanded to the lift off position at T−3 seconds as well as the fire 1 command being issued to arm the SRBs. At T−3 seconds, the vehicle base bending load modes are allowed to initialize (referred to as the "twang", movement of approximately measured at the tip of the external tank, with movement towards the external tank).


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The fire 2 commands cause the redundant NSDs to fire through a thin barrier seal down a flame tunnel. This ignites a pyro. booster charge, which is retained in the safe and arm device behind a perforated plate. The booster charge ignites the propellant in the igniter initiator; and combustion products of this propellant ignite the solid rocket motor initiator, which fires down the entire vertical length of the solid rocket motor igniting the solid rocket motor propellant along its entire surface area instantaneously.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: At T−0, the two SRBs are ignited, under command of the four onboard computers; separation of the four explosive bolts on each SRB is initiated; the two T-0 umbilicals (one on each side of the spacecraft) are retracted; the onboard master timing unit, event timer and mission event timers are started; the three SSMEs are at 100%; and the ground launch sequence is terminated.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Timing sequence referencing in ignition is critical for a successful liftoff and ascent flight. The explosive hold-down bolts relieve (through the launch support pedestals and pad structure) the asymmetric vehicle dynamic loads caused by the SSME ignition and thrust buildup, and applied thrust bearing loads. Without the hold-down bolts the SSMEs would violently tip the flight stack (orbiter, external tank, SRBs) over onto the external tank. That rotating moment is initially countered by the hold-bolts. Prior to release of the vehicle stack for liftoff, the SRBs must simultaneously ignite and pressurize their combustion chambers and exhaust nozzles to produce a thrust-derived, net counter-rotating moment exactly equal to the SSME's rotating moment. With the SRBs reaching full thrust, the hold-down bolts are blown, releasing the vehicle stack, the net rotating moment is zero, and the net vehicle thrust (opposing gravity) is positive, lifting the orbiter stack vertically from the launch pedestal, controllable through the coordinated gimbal movements of the SSMEs and the SRB exhaust nozzles.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: During ascent, multiple all-axis accelerometers detect and report the vehicle's flight and orientation (referencing the flight deck aboard the orbiter), as the flight reference computers translate navigation commands (steering to a particular waypoint in space, and at a particular time) into engine and motor nozzle gimbal commands, which orient the vehicle about its center of mass. As the forces on the vehicle change due to propellant consumption, increasing speed, changes in aerodynamic drag, and other factors, the vehicle automatically adjusts its orientation in response to its dynamic control command inputs.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The SRBs are jettisoned from the space shuttle at an altitude of about . SRB separation is initiated when the three solid-rocket motor-chamber pressure transducers are processed in the redundancy-management middle-value select and the head-end chamber pressure of both SRBs is less than or equal to . A backup cue is the time elapsed from booster ignition. The separation sequence is initiated, commanding the thrust vector control actuators to the null position and putting the main propulsion system into a second-stage configuration (0.8 seconds from sequence initialization), which ensures the thrust of each SRB is less than . Orbiter yaw attitude is held for four seconds, and SRB thrust drops to less than .


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The SRBs separate from the external tank within 30 milliseconds of the ordnance firing command. The forward attachment point consists of a ball (SRB) and socket (External Tank; ET) held together by one bolt. The bolt contains one NSD pressure cartridge at each end. The forward attachment point also carries the range safety system cross-strap wiring connecting each SRB Range Safety System (RSS) and the ET RSS with each other. The aft attachment points consist of three separate struts: upper, diagonal and lower. Each strut contains one bolt with an NSD pressure cartridge at each end. The upper strut also carries the umbilical interface between its SRB and the external tank and on to the orbiter.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: There are four booster separation motors (BSMs) on each end of each SRB. The BSMs separate the SRBs from the external tank. The solid rocket motors in each cluster of four are ignited by firing redundant NSD pressure cartridges into redundant confined detonating fuse manifolds. The separation commands issued from the orbiter by the SRB separation sequence initiate the redundant NSD pressure cartridge in each bolt and ignite the BSMs to effect a clean separation.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: A range safety system (RSS) provides for destruction of a rocket or part of it with on-board explosives by remote command if the rocket is out of control, in order to limit the danger to people on the ground from crashing pieces, explosions, fire, poisonous substances, etc. The RSS was only activated once – during the Space Shuttle "Challenger" disaster (37 seconds after the breakup of the vehicle, when the SRBs were in uncontrolled flight).


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The shuttle vehicle had two RSS, one in each SRB. Both were capable of receiving two command messages (arm and fire) transmitted from the ground station. The RSS was used only when the shuttle vehicle violates a launch trajectory red line.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: An RSS consists of two antenna couplers, command receivers/decoders, a dual distributor, a safe and arm device with two NASA standard detonators (NSD), two confined detonating fuse manifolds (CDF), seven CDF assemblies and one linear-shaped charge (LSC).


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The antenna couplers provide the proper impedance for radio frequency and ground support equipment commands. The command receivers are tuned to RSS command frequencies and provide the input signal to the distributors when an RSS command is sent. The command decoders use a code plug to prevent any command signal other than the proper command signal from getting into the distributors. The distributors contain the logic to supply valid destruct commands to the RSS pyrotechnics.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The NSDs provide the spark to ignite the CDF, which in turn ignites the LSC for booster destruction. The safe and arm device provides mechanical isolation between the NSDs and the CDF before launch and during the SRB separation sequence.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The first message, called arm, allows the onboard logic to enable a destruct and illuminates a light on the flight deck display and control panel at the commander and pilot station. The second message transmitted is the fire command.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The SRB distributors in the SRBs are cross-strapped together. Thus, if one SRB received an arm or destruct signal, the signal would also be sent to the other SRB.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Electrical power from the RSS battery in each SRB is routed to RSS system A. The recovery battery in each SRB is used to power RSS system B as well as the recovery system in the SRB. The SRB RSS is powered down during the separation sequence, and the SRB recovery system is powered up.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The SRBs are jettisoned from the shuttle system at 2 minutes and an altitude of about 146,000 feet (44 km). After continuing to rise to about 220,000 feet (67 km), the SRBs begin to fall back to earth and once back in the denser atmosphere are slowed by a parachute system to prevent damage on ocean impact. A command is sent from the orbiter to the SRB just before separation to apply battery power to the recovery logic network. A second, simultaneous command arms the three nose cap thrusters (for deploying the pilot and drogue parachute), the frustum ring detonator (for main parachute deployment), and the main parachute disconnect ordnance.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The recovery sequence begins with the operation of the high-altitude baroswitch, which triggers the pyrotechnic nose cap thrusters. This ejects the nose cap, which deploys the pilot parachute. Nose cap separation occurs at a nominal altitude of , about 218 seconds after SRB separation. The diameter conical ribbon pilot parachute provides the force to pull lanyards attached to cut knives, which cut the loop securing the drogue retention straps. This allows the pilot chute to pull the drogue pack from the SRB, causing the drogue suspension lines to deploy from their stored position. At full extension of the twelve suspension lines, the drogue deployment bag is stripped away from the canopy, and the diameter conical ribbon drogue parachute inflates to its initial reefed condition. The drogue disreefs twice after specified time delays (using redundant 7- and 12-second reefing line cutters), and it reorients/stabilizes the SRB for main chute deployment. The drogue parachute has a design load of approximately and weighs approximately .


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: After the drogue chute has stabilized the SRB in a tail-first attitude, the frustum is separated from the forward skirt by a pyrotechnic charge triggered by the low-altitude baroswitch at a nominal altitude of about 243 seconds after SRB separation. The frustum is then pulled away from the SRB by the drogue chute. The main chute suspension lines are pulled out from deployment bags that remain in the frustum. At full extension of the lines, which are long, the three main chutes are pulled from their deployment bags and inflate to their first reefed condition. The frustum and drogue parachute continue on a separate trajectory to splashdown. After specified time delays (using redundant 10- and 17-second reefing line cutters), the main chute reefing lines are cut and the chutes inflate to their second reefed and full open configurations. The main chute cluster decelerates the SRB to terminal conditions. Each of the diameter, 20° conical ribbon parachutes have a design load of approximately and each weighs approximately . These parachutes are the largest that have ever been used, in both deployed size and load weight. The RSRM nozzle extension is severed by a pyrotechnic charge about 20 seconds after frustum separation.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Water impact occurs about 279 seconds after SRB separation at a nominal velocity of . The water impact range is approximately off the eastern coast of Florida. Because the parachutes provide for a nozzle-first impact, air is trapped in the empty (burned out) motor casing, causing the booster to float with the forward end approximately out of the water.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Formerly, the main chutes were released from the SRB at impact using a parachute release nut ordnance system (residual loads in the main chutes would deploy the parachute attach fittings with floats tethered to each fitting). The current design keeps the main chutes attached during water impact (initial impact and slapdown). Salt Water Activated Release (SWAR) devices are now incorporated into the main chute riser lines to simplify recovery efforts and reduce damage to the SRB. The drogue deployment bag/pilot parachutes, drogue parachutes and frustums, each main chute, and the SRBs are buoyant and are recovered.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Specially fitted NASA recovery ships, the and the , recover the SRBs and descent/recovery hardware. Once the boosters are located, the Diver Operated Plug (DOP) is maneuvered by divers into place to plug the SRB nozzle and drain the water from the motor case. Pumping air into and water out of the SRB causes the SRB to change from a nose-up floating position to a horizontal attitude more suitable for towing. The retrieval vessels then tow the boosters and other objects recovered back to Kennedy Space Center.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The loss of Space Shuttle "Challenger" originated with a system failure of one of its SRBs. The cause of the accident was found by the Rogers Commission to be "a faulty design unacceptably sensitive to a number of factors" of the SRB joints compounded by unusually cold weather the morning of the flight. The field joint design was flawed, with flexure of the joints during launch compromising the seal of the large rubber O-rings and allowing them to extrude further into the joint and erode as hot exhaust gases passed through during past launches. Additionally, the O-rings were not resilient at low temperatures like those of the January 1986 morning of the accident (). A cold-compromised joint in the right SRB failed at launch and allowed hot gases from within that rocket booster to sear a hole into the adjacent main external fuel tank and also weaken the lower strut holding the SRB to the external tank. The leak in the SRB joint caused the eventually catastrophic failure of the lower strut and partial detachment of the SRB, which led to a collision between the SRB and the external tank. With the external tank being destroyed and the shuttle stack, traveling at a speed of Mach1.92 at , thrusted off-axis by the right SRB as well as the tank's collapse, "Challenger" disintegrated. Both SRBs survived the accident. Shortly before the disaster, engineers representing Thiokol recommended scrubbing the launch due to the cold temperatures, but were overridden by NASA managers.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: During the subsequent downtime, detailed structural analyses were performed on critical structural elements of the SRB. Analyses were primarily focused on areas where anomalies had been noted during postflight inspection of recovered hardware.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: One of the areas was the attachment ring where the SRBs are connected to the external tank. Areas of distress were noted in some of the fasteners where the ring attaches to the SRB motor case. This situation was attributed to the high loads encountered during water impact. To correct the situation and ensure higher strength margins during ascent, the attach ring was redesigned to encircle the motor case completely (360°). Previously, the attachment ring formed a 'C' shape and encircled the motor case just 270°.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Additionally, special structural tests were performed on the aft skirt. During this test program, an anomaly occurred in a critical weld between the hold-down post and skin of the skirt. A redesign was implemented to add reinforcement brackets and fittings in the aft ring of the skirt.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: These two modifications added approximately to the weight of each SRB. The result is called a Redesigned Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM).


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The prime contractor for the manufacture of the SRB motor segments was ATK Launch Systems (formerly Morton Thiokol Inc.) Wasatch Division based in Magna, Utah.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: United Space Boosters Inc. (USBI), a division of Pratt and Whitney, under United Technologies, was the original SRB prime contractor for SRB assembly, checkout and refurbishment for all non-solid-rocket-motor components and for SRB integration. They were the longest-running prime contractor for the Space Shuttle that was part of the original launch team. USBI was absorbed by United Space Alliance as the Solid Rocket Booster Element division in 1998 and the USBI division was disbanded at Pratt & Whitney the following year. At its peak, USBI had over 1500 personnel working on the Shuttle Boosters at KSC, FL and Huntsville, Alabama.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Components of the SRBs were transported from Utah to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida via rail over twelve days covering and eight states. Each segment and its custom built rail car weighed approximately . Cars carrying SRBs were separated by empty cars to distribute the load over bridges and trestles, particularly the bridge over the Indian River, the last bridge on the train's journey. Following recovery, spent segments were loaded onto those same train cars and returned to Utah for refurbishment and refueling.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: On May 2, 2007, a freight train carrying segments of the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters derailed in Myrtlewood, Alabama, after a rail trestle collapsed. The train was carrying eight SRB segments intended for STS-120 and STS-122. Four segments dropped approximately four other segments along with a car carrying aft exit cones (nozzles), not yet on the trestle, remained on solid ground. The segments that fell from the trestle were recovered and returned to Utah for inspection. After analyses of the forces put on the remaining four segments that had not fallen were found to be well within tolerances, those segments continued on to Florida.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: In 1988–1989, NASA was planning on replacing the post-"Challenger" SRBs with a new Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) to be built by Aerojet at a new facility, designed by subcontractor, RUST International, on the location of a cancelled Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear power plant, at Yellow Creek, Mississippi (Yellow Creek Nuclear Plant).


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The ASRM would be slightly wider (the booster's diameter would be increased from 146 inches to 150 inches) and have 200,000 pounds of extra propellant, and have produced additional thrust in order to increase shuttle payload by about 12,000lb, so that it could carry modules and construction components to the ISS. They were expected to be safer than the post-"Challenger" SRBs. The initial $1.2Bn contract was to be for 12 motors, with an option for another 88 at maybe another $1bn. Morton Thiokol would build the nozzles. The first test flight was expected around 1994.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The ASRM program was cancelled in 1993 after robotic assembly systems and computers were on-site and approximately 2 billion dollars spent, in favor of continued use, after design flaw corrections, of the SRB.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: In order to provide the necessary performance to launch polar-orbiting shuttles from the SLC-6 launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, SRBs using "filament-wound cases" (FWC) were designed to be more lightweight than the steel cases used on Kennedy Space Center-launched SRBs. Unlike the regular SRBs, which had the flawed field joint design that led to the "Challenger" Disaster in 1986, the FWC boosters had the "double tang" joint design (necessary to keep the boosters properly in alignment during the "twang" movement when the SSMEs are ignited prior to liftoff), but used the two O-ring seals. With the closure of SLC-6, the FWC boosters were scrapped by ATK and NASA, but their field joints, albeit modified to incorporate the current three O-ring seals and joint heaters, were later (after STS-51L) incorporated into the field joints on the SRBs used until the last flight in 2011.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Prior to the destruction of the Space Shuttle "Columbia" in 2003, NASA investigated the replacement of the current 4-segment SRBs with either a 5-segment SRB design or replacing them altogether with liquid-fueled "flyback" boosters using either Atlas V or Delta IV EELV technologies. The 5-segment SRB, which would have required little change to the current shuttle infrastructure, would have allowed the space shuttle to carry an additional of payload in an International Space Station-inclination orbit, eliminate the dangerous "Return-to-Launch Site" (RTLS) and "Trans-Oceanic Abort" (TAL) modes, and, by using a so-called dog-leg maneuver, fly south-to-north polar orbiting flights from Kennedy Space Center.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The five-segment SRB would use a wider nozzle throat to keep within the pressure limit of the existing segment casings.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: After the destruction of "Columbia", NASA shelved the five-segment SRB for the Shuttle Program. One five-segment engineering test motor, ETM-03, was fired on October 23, 2003.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: As part of the Constellation Program, the first stage of the Ares I rocket was planned to use five-segment SRBs; in September 2009 a five-segment Space Shuttle SRB (DM-1) was static fired on the ground in ATK's desert testing area in Utah. Additional tests (DM-2 and DM-3) were carried out in Aug 2010 and Sept 2011.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: After the Constellation Program was cancelled in 2011, the new Space Launch System (SLS) was designated to use five-segment boosters. The first test of a SRB for SLS (QM-1) was completed in early 2015, a second test (QM-2) was performed in mid 2016 at Orbital ATK's Promontory, Utah facility.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters are on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi, the United States Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the March Field Air Museum on March ARB in California, and at Orbital ATK's facility near Promontory, Utah.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Over time several proposals to reuse the SRB design were presented – however, as of 2016 none of these proposals progressed to regular flights before being cancelled. Until the 2022 planned first flight of the Space Launch System (SLS), a sole test-flight of the Ares I-X prototype in 2009 was the furthest any of these proposals progressed.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: NASA initially planned to reuse the four-segment SRB design and infrastructure in several Ares rockets, which would have propelled the Orion spacecraft into orbit. In 2005, NASA announced the Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle slated to carry the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle into low-Earth orbit and later to the Moon. The SRB-derived Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV), named Ares I, was planned to feature a single modified 4-segment SRB for its first stage; a single liquid-fueled modified Space Shuttle Main Engine would have powered the second stage.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The Ares I design updated in 2006 featured one 5-segment SRB (originally developed for the Shuttle, but never used) as a first stage; the second stage was powered by an uprated J-2X engine, derived from the J-2, which had been used in the upper stage of Saturn V and Saturn IB. In place of the standard SRB nosecone, the Ares I would have a tapered interstage assembly connecting the booster proper with the second stage, an attitude control system derived from the Regulus missile system, and larger, heavier parachutes to lower the stage into the Atlantic Ocean for recovery.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: Also introduced in 2005, was a heavy-lift Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) named Ares V. Early designs of the Ares V utilized "5" standard-production SSMEs and a pair of 5-segment boosters identical to those proposed for the Shuttle, while later plans redesigned the boosters around the RS-68 rocket engine used on the Delta IV EELV system. Initially, NASA switched over to a system using the 5-segment boosters and a cluster of 5 RS-68s (which resulted in a widening of the Ares V core unit), then NASA reconfigured the vehicle with 6 RS-68B engines, with the boosters themselves becoming 5.5-segment boosters, with an additional half-segment to provide additional thrust at liftoff.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: That final redesign would have made the Ares V booster taller and more powerful than the now-retired Saturn V/INT-20, N-1, and Energia rockets, and would have allowed the Ares V to place both the Earth Departure Stage and Altair spacecraft into low-Earth orbit for later on-orbit assembly. Unlike the 5-segment SRB for the Ares I, the 5.5-segment boosters for the Ares V were to be identical in design, construction, and function to the current SRBs except for the extra segments. Like the shuttle boosters, the Ares V boosters would fly an almost-identical flight trajectory from launch to splashdown.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The Constellation program, including Ares I and Ares V, was canceled in October 2010 by the passage of the 2010 NASA authorization bill.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The DIRECT proposal for a new, Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle, unlike the Ares I and Ares V boosters, uses a pair of classic 4-segment SRBs with the SSMEs used on the Shuttle.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: In 2008, PlanetSpace proposed the Athena III launch vehicle for ISS resupply flights under the COTS program; it would have featured segments from the original SRB design.


title: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

text: The first versions (Blocks 1 and 1B) of the Space Launch System (SLS) are planned to use a pair of five-segment Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), which were developed from the four-segment SRBs used for the Shuttle. Modifications for the SLS included the addition of a center booster segment, new avionics, and new insulation which eliminates the Shuttle SRB's asbestos and is lighter. The five-segment SRBs provide approximately 25% more total impulse than the Shuttle SRB, and are not recovered after use.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: The General is a 1926 American silent film released by United Artists. It was inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase, a true story of an event that occurred during the American Civil War. The story was adapted from the 1889 memoir "The Great Locomotive Chase" by William Pittenger. The film stars Buster Keaton who co-directed it with Clyde Bruckman.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: At the time of its initial release, "The General", an action-adventure-comedy made toward the end of the silent era, was not well received by critics and audiences, resulting in mediocre box office returns (about half a million dollars domestically, and approximately one million worldwide). Because of its then-huge budget ($750,000 supplied by Metro chief Joseph Schenck) and failure to turn a significant profit, Keaton lost his independence as a filmmaker and was forced into a restrictive deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: In 1954 the film entered the public domain in the United States because its claimant did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: "The General" has since been reevaluated, and is now often ranked among the greatest American films ever made. In 1989, it was selected by the Library of Congress to be included in the first class of films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: The General (1926 film)

text: When Western & Atlantic Railroad train engineer Johnnie Gray arrives in Marietta, Georgia, he visits the home of Annabelle Lee, one of the two loves of his life, the other being his locomotive, "The General". News arrives that the American Civil War has broken out, and Annabelle's brother and father rush to enlist in the Confederate Army. To please Annabelle, Johnnie hurries to be first in line to enlist, but is rejected because he is more valuable as an engineer, although he is not told that reason. On leaving, he runs into Annabelle's father and brother, who beckon to him to join them in line, but he walks away, leaving them with the impression that he does not want to enlist. Annabelle informs Johnnie that she will not speak to him again until he is in uniform.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: A year passes, and Annabelle receives word that her father has been wounded. She travels north on the W&ARR to see him, with "The General" pulling the train. When it makes a stop, the passengers and crew detrain for a quick meal. As previously planned, Union spies led by Captain Anderson use the opportunity to steal the train. Anderson's objective is to burn all the railroad bridges he passes, thus preventing reinforcement and resupply of the Confederate army. Annabelle, who returned to a baggage car, becomes an inadvertent prisoner of the raiders.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: Johnnie gives chase, first on foot, then by handcar and boneshaker bicycle, before reaching the station at Kingston. He alerts the army detachment there, which boards another train to give chase, with Johnnie manning the locomotive the "Texas". However, the flatcars are not hooked up to the engine and the troops are left behind. By the time Johnnie realizes he is alone, it is too late to turn back.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: The Union agents try various methods to shake their pursuer, including disconnecting their trailing car and dropping railroad ties on the tracks. As the chase continues northward, the Confederate Army of Tennessee is ordered to retreat and the Northern army advances in its wake. Johnnie finally notices he is now behind Union lines, and the hijackers see that Johnnie is by himself. Johnnie stops the "Texas" and runs into the forest to hide just as a downpour develops.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: At nightfall, Johnnie climbs through the window of a house to steal some food, but hides underneath a table when some Union officers enter. He overhears their plan for a surprise attack and that the Rock River Bridge is essential for their supporting supply trains. He then sees Annabelle brought in; she is taken to a room under guard while they decide what to do with her. Johnnie manages to knock out both guards and free Annabelle. They escape into the rainy woods.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: As day breaks, Johnnie and Annabelle find themselves near a railway station where Union soldiers and equipment are being organized for the attack. Seeing "The General", Johnnie devises a plan to warn the South. After sneaking Annabelle onto a boxcar, Johnnie steals his engine back. Two Union trains, including the "Texas", set out after the pair, while the Union attack is launched. In a reversal of the first chase, Johnnie now has to fend off his pursuers. Finally, he starts a fire behind "The General" in the center of the Rock River Bridge, to cut off the Union's important supply line.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: Reaching friendly lines, Johnnie warns the Confederate commander of the impending attack and their forces rush to meet the enemy. Meanwhile, Annabelle is reunited with her convalescing father. The pursuing "Texas" drives onto the burning bridge, which collapses. When Union soldiers try to ford the river, Confederate fire drives them back.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: Afterward, Johnnie returns to his locomotive to find the Union officer whom he had knocked out in escaping earlier has now regained consciousness. He takes the officer prisoner and is spotted by the Confederate general. As a reward for his bravery, he is commissioned a lieutenant and given the captured officer's sword.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: Returning to "The General" with Annabelle, he tries to kiss her, but has to repeatedly return the salutes of troops walking past. Johnnie finally uses his left hand to embrace Annabelle while using his right to salute the passing soldiers.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: In early 1926, Keaton's collaborator Clyde Bruckman told him about William Pittenger's 1889 memoir "The Great Locomotive Chase" about the 1862 Great Locomotive Chase. Keaton was a huge fan of trains and had read the book. Although it was written from the Union Army perspective, Keaton did not believe that the audience would accept Confederates as villains and changed the story's point of view. Keaton looked into shooting the film in the area where the original events took place, and attempted to authorize a lease agreement for the real-life "General". At that time, the locomotive was on display at Chattanooga Union Station. The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, who had entitlement on the engine, denied Keaton's request when they realized the film was going to be a comedy.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: In April 1926, Keaton's location manager, Burt Jackson, found an area in Oregon with old-fashioned railroads which he ascertained to be more authentic in terms of period setting for the film. He also discovered that the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway owned two vintage locomotives operating in lumber service that looked the part and purchased them for the production. He later bought a third locomotive in Oregon to portray the "Texas" for the purpose of using it in the iconic bridge collapse stunt. Producer Joseph Schenck was excited about the film and gave Keaton a budget of $400,000. Keaton spent weeks working on the script and preparing for elaborate pyrotechnical shots. He also grew his hair long for the film. He hired Sennett Bathing Beauties actress Marion Mack for the female lead role.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: The cast and crew arrived in Cottage Grove, Oregon, on May 27, 1926, with 18 freight cars full of Civil War-era cannons, rebuilt passenger cars, stagecoaches, houses, wagons and laborers. The crew stayed at the Bartell Hotel in nearby Eugene and brought three 35 mm cameras with them from Los Angeles. On May 31, set construction began with the materials, and regular train service in Cottage Grove ceased until the end of production. One third of the film's budget was spent in Cottage Grove, and 1,500 locals were hired.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: Filming began on June 8. At first, Keaton completely ignored Mack on set. She said that "Buster just stuck to the job and to his little clique, and that was all" and that the crew "stopped the train when they saw a place to play baseball." Keaton eventually came to like Mack during production, often playing practical jokes on her. The atmosphere on set was lighthearted, and every Sunday the cast and crew played baseball with local residents, who often said that Keaton could have been a professional player.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: According to a United Artists press release at the time, the film had 3,000 people on its payroll and cost $400 an hour to make. Entertainment trade papers reported rumors that the film's budget had grown to between $500,000 and $1 million, and that Keaton was out of control, building real bridges and having dams constructed to change the depths of rivers. Producer Schenck was angry at Keaton over the growing costs. There were also numerous on-set accidents that contributed to the growing budget. This included Keaton being knocked unconscious; an assistant director being shot in the face with a blank cartridge; a train wheel running over a brakeman's foot, resulting in a $2,900 lawsuit; and the train's wood-burning engine causing numerous fires. The fires often spread to forests and farmers' haystacks, which cost the production $25 per burnt stack.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: On July 23, Keaton shot the climactic train wreck scene in the conifer forest near Cottage Grove. The town declared a local holiday so that everyone could watch the spectacle. Between three and four thousand local residents showed up, including 500 extras from the Oregon National Guard. (Elsewhere in the film, the Oregon National Guard members appear dressed as both Union and Confederate soldiers who cross the landscape in the background of the train tracks). Keaton used six cameras for the train wreck scene, which began four hours late and required several lengthy trial runs. The train wreck of the "Texas" shot cost $42,000, the most expensive single shot in silent-film history. The production company left the wreckage in the riverbed. The locomotive became a minor tourist attraction for nearly twenty years, until it was salvaged in 1944–45 for scrap during World War II.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: Another fire broke out during the filming of a large fight scene, which not only cost the production $50,000, but also forced Keaton and the crew to return to Los Angeles on August 6 due to excessive smoke. Heavy rains finally cleared the smoke in late August and production resumed. Shooting concluded on September 18. Keaton had shot 200,000 feet of film and began a lengthy editing process for a late December release date.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: Keaton performed many dangerous physical stunts on and around the moving train, including jumping from the engine to a tender to a boxcar, and running along the roofs of the railcars. One of the most dangerous stunts involved him pulling a railroad tie out from being lodged into the track, with the train steadily approaching, then sitting on the cow-catcher of the slow-moving train while carrying the tie, then tossing it at another tie to dislodge it from the tracks; had he either failed to pull out the first tie on time, or mistimed the throw to the second tie, the locomotive could have derailed and Keaton could have been injured or killed.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: Another dangerous stunt involved him sitting on one of the coupling rods connecting the drivers of the locomotive; had the locomotive suffered a wheelspin, Keaton might have been thrown from the rod and injured or killed. Shot in one take, the scene shows the train starting gently and gradually picking up speed as it enters a shed, while Keaton's character Johnnie Gray, distracted and heartbroken, is oblivious.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: "The General" premiered on December 31, 1926, in two small theaters in Tokyo, Japan. It was scheduled to have its US premiere at the prestigious Capitol Theatre in New York City on January 22, 1927, but was delayed for several weeks due to the enormous hit "Flesh and the Devil" playing at the Capitol. It finally premiered on February 5, with the engine bell from the real "General" train on display in the lobby to promote it. It played at the Capitol for one week, making $50,992, considered average box-office. With a final budget of $750,000, it made $474,264 in the US.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: On its initial release, the film largely failed to please the critics. "Variety" reported of a theater in which it played, "After four weeks of record business with "Flesh and the Devil", looks as though it were virtually going to starve to death this week". It went on to say "The General" was "far from funny" and that it was "a flop". "The New York Times" reviewer Mordaunt Hall stated, "The production itself is singularly well mounted, but the fun is not exactly plentiful", and "This is by no means so good as Mr. Keaton's previous efforts." The "Los Angeles Times" reported that the picture was "neither straight comedy nor is it altogether thrilling drama" . . . "drags terribly with a long and tiresome chase of one engine by another". A review from "Motion Picture Classic" called it "a mild Civil War comedy, not up to Keaton's best standards." A review from the "New York Herald Tribune" called it "long and tedious—the least-funny thing Buster Keaton has ever done." Writer Robert E. Sherwood wrote, "Someone should have told Buster Keaton that it is difficult to derive laughter from the sight of men being killed in battle." One good review came from the "Brooklyn Eagle".


title: The General (1926 film)

text: In 1963, Keaton said, "I was more proud of that picture than any I ever made. Because I took an actual happening out of the... history books, and I told the story in detail too". Following changes in taste and critical reevaluation of Keaton's work, later audiences and critics have come to agree with him, and "The General" is now considered a major classic of the silent era. David Robinson wrote, "Every shot has the authenticity and the unassumingly correct composition of a Mathew Brady Civil War photograph." Raymond Durgnat wrote, "Perhaps "The General" is the most beautiful [film], with its spare, grey photography, its eye for the racy, lunging lines of the great locomotives, with their prow-like cowcatchers, with its beautifully sustained movement." In 2015, leftist magazine "Jacobin" called the film a "comic masterpiece" but denounced it for "promoting" the Lost Cause of the Confederacy.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: In 1954 the film entered the public domain in the United States because its claimant did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: In 1989, "The General" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was the Registry's initial year; some of the other films chosen were "The Best Years of Our Lives", "Casablanca", "Citizen Kane", "Gone with the Wind", "Singin' in the Rain", "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", "Star Wars", "Sunset Boulevard", and "The Wizard of Oz".


title: The General (1926 film)

text: In the decennial "Sight & Sound" poll of the greatest films ever made, international critics ranked "The General" #8 in 1972 and #10 in 1982. It ranked #34 in critic's poll in 2012 and 75th in the directors' poll. In 2002, critic Roger Ebert listed it on his Top 10 and his list The Great Movies. Dave Whitaker of DavesMovieDatabase, a film aggregator site that combines other lists with box-office, ratings and awards, lists "The General" as the 99th-greatest movie of all time, the 21st-greatest comedy, and the 3rd-greatest silent.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: A mural was painted on a building in Cottage Grove, OR commemorating the film. David Thomson has speculated it is "the only memorial in the United States to Buster Keaton."


title: The General (1926 film)

text: U.S. film distributor Kino International released the film on Blu-ray Disc in November 2009, the first American release of a silent feature film for the high-definition video medium. The Blu-ray edition replicates the extra features of Kino's 2008 "The Ultimate 2-Disc Edition" on DVD, including the choice of three different orchestral scores.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: In 1953, a new version of the film was created by film distributor and collector Raymond Rohauer, reedited with an introduction and music. As of 2013 this version is under copyright, as Rohauer filed a copyright registration in 1953 and renewed it in 1983.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: In 1987, Carl Davis composed a score for the film, which was later used with a 4K restoration of the film in 2019.


title: The General (1926 film)

text: In 2016 or 2017, an original score was commissioned to celebrate the 90th anniversaries of "The General" and Portland, Oregon's Hollywood Theater. The film subsequently toured Oregon. After its showing in Cottage Grove, the president of the National Film Archives offered the movie's master print for production of the DVD. It is currently in production, and a worldwide tour is planned to accompany the DVD release.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty is a fictional character featured in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip "Peanuts". Her full name is Patricia Reichardt, which is very rarely used in the strip. She is one of a small group in the strip who live across town from Charlie Brown and his school friends (although in "The Peanuts Movie", "Snoopy in Space", and "The Snoopy Show" she, Marcie, and Franklin live in the same neighborhood and attend the same school). She has freckles and "mousy-blah" hair, and generally displays the characteristics of a tomboy, although she also demonstrates an obsession with the smaller things in life. She made her first appearance on August 22, 1966. The following year she made her animated debut in the TV special "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" and began (in the comics) coaching a baseball team that played against Charlie Brown, and thereafter had other adventures with him. Uniquely, she refers to Charlie Brown and Lucy as "Chuck" and "Lucille", respectively. In most of her appearances, she is attracted to Charlie Brown, based on her reactions. Her birthday is on October 4.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Charles M. Schulz modeled Peppermint Patty after a favorite cousin, Patricia Swanson, who served as a regular inspiration for "Peanuts". Schulz had also named his earlier character Patty after Swanson, and he coined his well-known phrase "Happiness is a Warm Puppy" during a conversation with her in 1959. Swanson's roommate Elise Gallaway served as the model for Peppermint Patty's best friend Marcie. In later years, especially after lesbian groups began identifying with Peppermint Patty, Schulz downplayed the fact that the character was based on Swanson to protect her privacy.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: In one interview, Schulz stated that he coined Peppermint Patty's name after noticing a dish of peppermint patties in his house and deciding the name was so good that he should use it before another artist thought of the same joke. He created the character design (complete with the incentive to audaciously have her toes in the open) to fit the name. Peppermint Patty debuted in the strip of August 22, 1966. In 1972, Schulz introduced the character's last name, Reichardt, which he borrowed from the last name of his secretary, Sue Reichardt, whose favorite character was Peppermint Patty.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty was first voiced by Gabrielle DeFaria in the CBS television specials, then by various other child performers both male (such as Christopher DeFaria and Stuart Brotman) and female (including Donna Forman Le Tourneau (1974), Linda Ercoli (1974), Victoria Vargas (1983), Gini Holtzman (1984–1985)).


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi composed the eponymous theme song for Peppermint Patty in 1967, making its first appearance in the television special "You're in Love, Charlie Brown". In his book "Vince Guaraldi at the Piano", Guaraldi historian and biographer Derrick Bang wrote that the upbeat melody "aptly conveyed her character's feisty, tomboyish nature and just-under-the-radar feminism." Producer Lee Mendelson commented that Schulz was particularly fond of the theme Guaraldi wrote for the character.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Various renditions of Peppermint Patty's theme song appeared in nearly every television special Guaraldi scored that the character appeared in, including "He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown" (1968), "It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown" (1969), "Play It Again, Charlie Brown" (1971), "There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown", "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" (both 1973), "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" (1974) and "You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown" (1975). Unique variations of the song were commercially released on the albums "Oh Good Grief!" (1968) and "The Charlie Brown Suite & Other Favorites" (recorded 1969, released 2003). It also was covered by George Winston on "" (1996) and David Benoit on "It's a David Benoit Christmas!" (2020).


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty has chin-length hair that she describes as "mousy-blah", most often depicted as a medium brown (though the color has sometimes appeared as orange-red or auburn, as in "The Peanuts Movie"), and has freckles. She wears a green, striped collared shirt, black or dark blue shorts (long pants in "The Peanuts Movie") with two vertical white stripes on each side, and almost always goes barefoot with sandals (brown in the comic strip and merchandise; green in animated appearances except in "The Peanuts Movie"). Although her implied attachment to having her toes in the open is never clarified, in one series of strips where she is forbidden to wear the sandals in school, it is revealed they were a gift from her father because she was "a rare gem".


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty is noted for her persistent habit of profoundly misunderstanding basic concepts and ideas that most people would consider obvious, then blindly ignoring any counsel against her latest fixation which leads to ultimately embarrassing situations for which she blames everyone who warned her. For a long time she was unaware that Snoopy was a dog, referring to him as "a funny looking kid with a big nose." This was a recurrent gag in the strip until an incident (featured in a series of strips from March 1974) in which Patty declares she is through with school and plans to spend the rest of her days staying in "Chuck's guest cottage" (Snoopy's dog house). By the end of this story arc, Marcie, in a fit of exasperation, angrily informs Peppermint Patty that the "funny looking kid" is actually a beagle, which leaves Patty in stunned shock for several strips. In a later phone call to Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty finally accepts the truth: "Let's just say my pride had the flu, okay, Chuck?"


title: Peppermint Patty

text: She also thinks a school for gifted children means that she will get free gifts if she enrolls. She confuses a dog obedience school with a human private school, going so far as to enroll and graduate with the other dogs. It is only later, when she tries to use that diploma to show that she does not have to go to regular school, that she discovers that she has publicly humiliated herself for a meaningless honor. Although initially angry with Snoopy, who had recommended the school to her, she forgives him after she gets into a fight with the cat named "World War II" that lives next door to Charlie Brown (having mistaken it for Snoopy in a cat suit) and Snoopy comes to her aid.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: She is widely known for receiving a D− grade on every test or assignment in school (in 1999, the final full year of "Peanuts", her teacher presents her with a certificate naming her to the "D-Minus Hall of Fame"). In one comic strip, Patty gets a Z−, which she calls "sarcasm". In a series of strips in 1984, Peppermint Patty is held back a grade for failing all of her classes—only to be allowed to return to her old class when her old desk in front of Marcie starts to emit snoring noises, leading kids and faculty to suspect that the classroom is haunted by a "snoring ghost".


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty's bad grades are possibly exacerbated by her tendency to sleep through class. This is explained by the fact that her father works late, and Patty is too insecure to sleep until he returns home. In one series of strips, Marcie suggests that it is Patty's unrequited love for Charlie Brown (see below) which causes her to fall asleep. At Marcie's urging, Patty also goes to a sleep disorder treatment center to be tested for narcolepsy; once again, it is determined that staying up too late at night, and not narcolepsy, is the cause of Patty's falling asleep in class.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty hires Snoopy twice to serve as her watchdog so she can sleep better at night, but both incidents end disastrously. The first time, Snoopy is unable to get off Peppermint Patty's waterbed in the guest room to catch the burglars who are stealing from the house at that very moment, and the second time, Snoopy is distracted by a girl poodle who becomes his fiancée (the engagement is called off on the day of the wedding), leading Peppermint Patty to angrily call Charlie Brown in the middle of the night and demand that he come to her house to serve as watchdog in Snoopy's place. Besides guard duties, Peppermint Patty also retains Snoopy's services in other ways, including as an attorney and as a figure skating coach.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: The first strip in which the character's full name, Patricia Reichardt, is mentioned was published January 15, 1972 when she, along with her attorney, Snoopy, openly challenges the school's new dress code that forbids shorts and sandals. Her formal name appears again at least two more times. In the January 8, 1985 strip, Marcie announces to the class that "One of our classmates, Miss Patricia Reichardt, has just won the All-City Essay Contest." In the February 5, 1993 strip, Patty reads to Marcie an ad she has placed in the paper:


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Patty is the most "tomboyish" girl in the comic strip; a star athlete, especially in baseball where her team regularly trounces Charlie Brown's. In the first series of strips in which Patty appeared in 1966, she actually joins "Chuck's" team as its new pitcher, relegating Charlie Brown to the outfield. However, she quits in disgust after only one game; despite tossing a no-hitter and slamming five home runs, her new team loses, 37–5, because of their somewhat porous defense. In another occasion she lets Charlie Brown throw the last pitch of the game, having so far pitched a no-hit game leading 50–0, only to see him lose the game, 51–50.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty lives with her father and enjoys a particularly close relationship with him, even though he apparently has to do a lot of traveling. He refers to his daughter as his "rare gem", a nickname with which Patty is extremely pleased. No siblings are ever mentioned, thus Peppermint Patty is presumed to be an only child. She has often lamented her lack of a mother to help her prepare for skating competitions and such:


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty mentions her mother over the course of the television special "He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown", but Schulz repeatedly stated that the situations presented in the cartoon adaptations are not canonical to the strip.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Pepperment Patty's mother is the subject of the 2022 Apple TV+ special "." Sad because everyone else has a mother to celebrate Mother's Day with, she decides to celebrate her father instead, because he had to raise her by himself.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty's closest friend, Marcie, calls her "Sir". It is never revealed whether this eccentric habit, dating to Marcie's first appearance in the strip in 1971, is the result of misguided manners, poor eyesight, a snarky reference to Patty's tomboyish ways, or some other reason. For a long time, this was a major annoyance to Patty, who would continually snap at Marcie, "Stop calling me Sir!" Eventually, she got used to it, although she still preferred that Marcie "not" call her "Sir". Marcie also called her "Priscilla" in "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving"; however, this is a continuation of a reference Linus had just made to Longfellow's poem "The Courtship of Miles Standish" in which Standish asks John Alden to speak to Priscilla Mullins on his behalf (just as Peppermint Patty has asked Marcie to speak to Charlie Brown).


title: Peppermint Patty

text: The first character to call Peppermint Patty "Sir" was not Marcie, but a pigtailed girl named Sophie in Peppermint Patty's cabin at summer camp, who appeared in the same series of strips in the summer of 1968 that introduced Marcie's predecessor, Clara. When Sophie and Clara (this time sans glasses) re-appeared in "Peanuts" in the summer of 1987, they called her "ma'am", which also annoyed her.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Not until a few years after she was introduced into the strip did it become apparent that Peppermint Patty had a crush on Charlie Brown, although it is pursued and received with varying degrees of projection, enthusiasm, and obliviousness, especially on the part of Charlie Brown. Peppermint Patty frequently plays lovers' games with Charlie Brown, and gets frustrated or even angry when he does not take the bait; he "does" like Peppermint Patty, but only as a friend (though their friendship is occasionally strained by her strong personality and bossiness toward him). Originally, Peppermint Patty played reverse psychology; she would often say, "You kind of like me, don't you, Chuck?" when it was clear that it was Peppermint Patty who had the crush on Charlie Brown, while he not only did not have a crush on her, he also did not quite know what to make of her. His true love was the unattainable Little Red-Haired Girl, and having a girl actually like him was unexplored territory, although Peppermint Patty once angrily expressed her jealousy to Charlie Brown for his affection of that girl. Patty frequently denied having a crush on Charlie Brown at first, writing him off as too wishy-washy and because she "could strike him out on three straight pitches", and during a game of Ha-Ha Herman crudely insulting him when she thought he was not listening. However, to her credit, she was shown to be visibly upset when Marcie pointed out that he had overheard her comments and apologized to him the very next day. Yet it was still obvious to Marcie that Peppermint Patty liked Charlie Brown as more than a friend, wishy-washy or not.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: In one Sunday strip on July 22, 1979 (drawn as part of a storyline in which Charlie Brown was in the hospital), Peppermint Patty essentially admitted her feelings for Charlie Brown and, in the same strip, Marcie admitted loving "Chuck," so far as to affirming her willingness to marry Charlie Brown. Even this strip ended in a denial of sorts; Patty brought Marcie up to the front desk of the hospital and tried to have her admitted as a patient, saying, "I think she's sicker than he is!"


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty often tries to talk to Charlie Brown about matters of the heart (often depicted with both characters sitting under a tree) and even calls him often on the phone (usually taking up the majority of the conversation), but Charlie Brown usually manages to somehow evade the issue, often by simply playing dumb. Patty often grumbles, "I hate talking to you, Chuck!" whenever she tries to confide in him and he does not tell her what she wants to hear.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty also developed a crush on Pig-Pen for a while in 1980, after Charlie Brown set them up on a date for a Valentine's Day dance. Also, in the movie "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown", both she and Marcie were shown as being attracted to Pierre, the son of their host family in Paris. Pierre only returned Marcie's affections, however, a fact to which Peppermint Patty remained oblivious even when they were holding hands right in front of her.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty also has a strong friendship with Snoopy. For years, owing to Snoopy's often human-like behavior, Patty often refers to Snoopy as a "funny-looking kid with a big nose". The rest of the cast is often confused by Patty's obliviousness, but she was finally corrected in the strip from March 21, 1974, by Marcie. Patty since accepts that Snoopy is a dog but often still treats him like a human, which pleases Snoopy since most of the characters treat him like a dog, albeit a remarkably gifted one. Snoopy acts as Peppermint Patty's ice skating coach. Although he is silent and grumbling most of the time, he acknowledges Patty's successes with a kiss on her nose.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty's mother is never seen or mentioned. In the strip of September 27, 1973, Peppermint Patty simply says she doesn't have a mother. The fate of her mother is never revealed in the strip.


title: Peppermint Patty

text: Peppermint Patty's dad often calls Patty "a rare gem". In the cartoons his voice, like those of all adults, is heard as "wah-wahs" (made by musician Dean Hubbard).


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: Scott Philip Brown (born September 12, 1959) is an American diplomat, attorney, and politician who served as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. He is a former United States Senator for Massachusetts (2010–2013), and also was the 2014 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire. Prior to his Senate tenure, Brown served as a member of the Massachusetts General Court, first in the State House of Representatives (1998–2004) and then in the State Senate (2004–2010).


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: In 2010, Brown faced Democratic candidate Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in a special election which occurred after the 2009 death of longtime Senator Ted Kennedy. While initially trailing Coakley by a large margin, Brown saw a sudden late surge and posted a come-from-behind win to become the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts since Edward Brooke in 1972. Brown ran for a full Senate term in 2012, but lost to Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren. After his defeat, Brown subsequently joined the board of directors of Kadant paper company, joined Fox News as a commentator, and joined Nixon Peabody where he provided legal services.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: After re-establishing residence in New Hampshire, Brown then campaigned for the U.S. Senate from New Hampshire in the 2014 elections. Brown won the Republican nomination by a significant margin, but was defeated by incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen in the general election. On April 20, 2017, it was reported that Brown had been nominated by President Donald Trump to be the next United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. He was confirmed by the Senate as Ambassador to New Zealand on June 8, 2017 and arrived in New Zealand on June 25.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: From January to August 2021, Brown served as dean of New England Law Boston, a private law school located in downtown Boston. In April 2022, Brown became head of The Competitiveness Coalition, a newly formed conservative coalition group.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: Brown is of English ancestry, from a family that has been in New Hampshire since the colonial era. His earliest American ancestor was 17th century immigrant Francis Matthews, who sailed from Devonshire, England. Brown is part of a 9th generation New Hampshire family and was born on September 12, 1959 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard located on Seavey's Island in Kittery, Maine. Brown's father, Claude Bruce Brown, and mother, Judith Ann "Judi" (née Rugg), divorced when he was about a year old. When he was a young child, his mother moved with him to Wakefield, Massachusetts. He often spent his summers in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where his father served as a city councilor for 18 years. He also spent summers in Portsmouth, New Hampshire during his youth. His father and his grandfather were Republicans. His father has said that young Scott became interested in running for political office in the mid-1960s while accompanying him on a campaign for state office.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: Brown had a difficult childhood; after her divorce, his working mother received welfare benefits. Brown experienced sexual abuse from a camp counselor who threatened to kill the 10-year-old boy if he told anyone – which he did not disclose, even to his family, until his autobiography "Against All Odds" (2011) – and physical abuse from his stepfathers. During various periods of his childhood, Brown lived with his grandparents and his aunt. He shoplifted many times, and was arrested for stealing record albums and brought before Judge Samuel Zoll in Salem, Massachusetts at the age of 13 or 14. Zoll asked Brown if his siblings would like seeing him play basketball in jail and required Brown to write a 1,500-word essay on that question as his punishment. Brown later said, "that was the last time I ever stole."


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: He graduated from Wakefield High School in 1977. He received a Bachelor of Arts in History, "cum laude" from Tufts University in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School in 1985. During his undergraduate career at Tufts, Brown was a member of the Kappa chapter of Zeta Psi International Fraternity.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: Brown has said the rescue efforts of Army National Guard during the Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 impressed him. When he was 19, he joined the Massachusetts Army National Guard, received his basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and attended Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) classes at the campus of Northeastern University. He was trained in infantry, quartermaster, and airborne duties, and in 1994 he joined the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG). He was active in the Guard for 35 years rising to the rank of colonel. As the Army National Guard's head defense attorney in New England, Brown defended Guard members who had disciplinary difficulties such as positive drug tests, and provided estate planning and real estate advice to those who were about to deploy to war zones. He spent ten days to two weeks with the Guard in Kazakhstan and a week in Paraguay.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service in preparing for troops mobilization for Operation Noble Eagle (the mobilization of National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve personnel to provide security on military installations, airports, and other potential homeland targets) shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and later for mobilization support for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom of the Iraq War. He credits his military experience with causing him to focus on veteran's issues as well as issues of war and peace. He has served on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the Hidden Wounds of War Commission, and the Governor's Task Force on Returning Veterans during his career as a legislator.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: On May 2, 2011, Brown announced that he would soon go to Afghanistan for training as part of his Army National Guard service. When deployed in August 2011 for a week of training, he spent most of his time in Kabul.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: On August 1, 2012, Brown was promoted to Colonel in a private ceremony presided over by fellow senator John McCain. He officially retired from the Army on May 13, 2014, after 35 years of service, and was awarded the Legion of Merit.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: In June 1982, Brown, then a 22-year-old law student at Boston College, won "Cosmopolitan" magazine's "America's Sexiest Man" contest. After two weeks on a crash diet of "three cans of tuna a day" and intensive workouts he was featured in the magazine's centerfold, posing nude but strategically positioned so that according to Brown, "You don't see anything". In the accompanying interview, he referred to himself as "a bit of a patriot" and stated that he had political ambitions. The "Cosmopolitan" appearance and its $1,000 fee helped pay for law school, and began for Brown a "long, lucrative" part-time catalog and print modeling career in New York and Boston during the 1980s. Brown took a leave of absence from Boston College and further pursued his modeling career in New York where he was represented by Wilhelmina Models while taking classes at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He returned to Boston, after nearly two years, to continue his studies at Boston College and continued to work as a model represented by Boston agent, Maggie Trichon of Maggie Inc.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: Brown "caught the political bug" in 1992 when he was elected property assessor of Wrentham, Massachusetts. In 1995, he was elected to the Wrentham Board of Selectmen.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: He successfully ran for the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1998, representing the 9th Norfolk District for three terms. Brown again moved up the ladder of state politics to the state Senate in March 2004 when he won a special election to replace Democrat Cheryl Jacques. Brown was re-elected for a full term in November 2004, and again in November 2006, running without opposition the second time. He won re-election in November 2008, defeating Democratic candidate Sara Orozco by a 59–41 percent margin. Following his re-election, Brown was one of five Republicans in the 40-seat Massachusetts Senate. In the Massachusetts Senate, Brown served on committees dealing with consumer protection, professional licensing, education, election laws, public safety, and veterans' affairs.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: In February 2007, a controversy arose after Brown's appearance at King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, Massachusetts as part of a debate on gay marriage. The high school students had launched a Facebook group attack on Brown and had made a derogatory remark about his daughter, Ayla. During his presentation, Brown defended himself and his daughter by directly quoting several vulgar statements they had made and announcing the names of the students who had written the statements. Critics questioned whether Brown should have quoted the profane comments in front of a high school audience.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: In January 2010, "The Boston Globe" reported that during six terms in the Legislature, three each in the House and Senate, Brown had a modest record of legislative initiatives, but he had carved out a niche as a leading advocate for veterans. Richard Tisei of Wakefield, Massachusetts, the leader of the Republican minority in the state Senate, called Brown "the acknowledged expert on veterans' issues". State Senator Jack Hart, a Democrat of South Boston, said: "He does his homework, he's comprehensive in his approach, and on veterans' issues, he's one of them and has done a very good job on their behalf."


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: Brown lists among his achievements as a legislator his authorship of a 2007 law that created a check-off box on state income tax forms for veterans to indicate whether they served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The state uses the information to notify veterans of available services and benefits, including the Welcome Home Bonus that provides $1,000 for those returning from active duty in Afghanistan or Iraq.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: On September 12, 2009, Brown announced his run for the U.S. Senate seat that became vacant with the death of Ted Kennedy, saying the state "needs an independent thinker". "Washington Post" columnist Kathleen Parker said that Brown's political positions did not fall neatly into party lines, and called Brown "mainstream in a nation that defines itself as mostly conservative". Boris Shor, political scientist at the Harris School of Public Policy, described Brown as a liberal Republican by national standards, but well-suited for his Massachusetts constituency. Shor explained the support Brown was receiving from the conservative national Republican Party as due to their "decentralized decision" to support the candidate most likely to win.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: Brown won a landslide victory in the Republican primary on December 8, 2009, defeating late entrant and perennial candidate Jack E. Robinson by a margin of 89 percent to 11 percent.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: Brown's opponents in the general election were Democratic nominee, Attorney General Martha Coakley, and independent Joseph L. Kennedy (no relation to the Kennedy family). At the outset, he faced overwhelming odds because he was relatively unknown compared to Coakley, he was running as a Republican in a very Democratic state, and much of his campaigning had to be done during the Christmas and New Year's season when citizens do not generally pay much attention to politics. No Republican had been elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts since Edward Brooke in 1972. He polled far behind Coakley for several months, but closed the gap in the early weeks of January.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: One week before the January special election, a controversy arose over a Coakley approved television ad. The ad referenced the conscientious objector amendment Brown had sponsored for inclusion in a 2005 proposed state measure on patients' rights. This amendment would have allowed individual healthcare workers and hospitals to refuse to provide emergency contraceptive care (the morning-after pill) to rape victims if they objected due to a religious belief. After the amendment failed, Brown did vote for the main bill which, along with other patient rights, requires healthcare workers and hospitals to provide such care. Coakley's ad featured a male voice that said, "Brown even favors letting hospitals deny emergency contraception to rape victims," over the ad's graphic which had the words, "Deny rape victims care". Brown's daughter Ayla called the Coakley ad "completely inaccurate and misleading", and stated that her father would never deny care to a rape victim. Brown criticized Coakley for running what he described as attack ads.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: In the 2010 Senate race, although Brown was not endorsed by the Greater Boston Tea Party group, the group organized a fund-raising breakfast for him in Boston. The Tea Party Express also endorsed Brown and bought ads on the national cable networks supporting Brown.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: When told that at various times he has been labeled a conservative, moderate and a liberal Republican, he responded "I'm a Scott Brown Republican." According to Politifact, while Brown was a Massachusetts legislator, he voted about 90 percent with the state Republican leadership; however, Republican Leadership in the Massachusetts legislature is generally considered far more moderate than the national Republican Party.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: A week before the general election, Brown raised $1.3 million from over 16,000 donors in a 24-hour moneybomb. His campaign office stated it raised $5 million over the period from January 11–15. Charlie Cook of the "Cook Political Report" stated on January 17 that he would put his "finger on the scale" for Brown as the favorite. The Rothenberg Political Report released a statement that "the combination of public and private survey research and anecdotal information now strongly suggests that Republican Scott Brown will defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in tomorrow's race." Suffolk University's polling of three bellwether counties on January 18 had Brown leading Coakley by double-digit margins. Brown won the January 19 election, performing well in traditional Republican strongholds and holding rival Coakley's margins down in many Democratic precincts.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: On election night, after Coakley conceded, Brown gave a victory speech that stated, "It all started with me, my truck, and a few dedicated volunteers. It ended with Air Force One making an emergency run to Logan. I didn't mind when President Obama came here and criticized me – that happens in campaigns. But when he criticized my truck, that's where I draw the line." Brown's upset win stunned the national Democratic party, and foreshadowed nationwide success for Republicans in 2010.


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: October 2011 polling showed Brown's approvals had fallen and he faced a competitive re-election if matched against Democrat Elizabeth Warren. However, his numbers in early March 2012 showed he led Warren by 8 points in the polls. In March 2012, Brown's lead had narrowed to 2.3%, within the margin of error. As of September 2012, several polls showed Warren with a lead over Brown (with one still giving Brown an edge).


title: Scott Brown (politician)

text: On November 6, 2012, Brown was defeated by Elizabeth Warren in the general election. Warren was able to garner 54% of the vote, while Brown won 46%.