Rocket boosters provide about 70% of the thrust needed for a space shuttle launch. The solid rocket boosters weigh 1.3 million pounds when fully fueled and detach from the shuttle after burning all their propellant at an altitude of 24 nautical miles. They then fall back to Earth and land in the ocean to be reused. The boosters work according to Newton's third law of motion by exerting propellant force on the ground, which provides an equal and opposite reactionary force to lift the shuttle into space.