WASHINGTON — Fresh on the heels of a report questioning the viability of NASA’s human spaceflight plans, AlliantTechsystems (ATK) test fired a solid-rocket booster that would serve as the main stage of an astronaut-launching Ares 1 rocket whose future is now in doubt.

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Brian Berger is editor in chief of SpaceNews.com and the SpaceNews magazine. He joined SpaceNews.com in 1998, spending his first decade with the publication covering NASA. His reporting on the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident was recognized with...