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DATE: Jan. 3, 1997 SUBJECT: MASKELL-ROBBINS AIDS SPACE PROGRAM |
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| A diver checks the HDPE pipe in NASA's new 6.2-million-gallon Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. When completed in early 1997, the lab will be used to simulate a weightless environment for training astronauts and evaluating space hardware. | |||||||||
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Astronauts assembling the planned international space station will be able to thank Maskell-Robbins, in part, for their training. That's because the 24" HDPE pipe sold by Maskell-Robbins is a primary component of new facilities. This facility will be used to train astronauts who will assemble the $34 million space station. The HDPE was installed as return pipe in the new 6.2-million-gallon McDonnell Douglas Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA's Sonny Carter Training Facility in southwest Houston. Essentially a massive swimming pool, the 40-foot-deep water tank measures 200 feet by 100 feet and will be used to simulate many of the conditions astronauts will encounter during the hundreds of space walks required to assemble and maintain a sprawling space station. The new tank replaces a smaller tank now used for space walk training on the Johnson Space Center grounds. HDPE pipe was selected based on its flexibility and its seamless -- therefore leak-proof -- construction and because of "the engineering expertise available from Maskell-Robbins," says Gordon Bond, project manager for King & Arthur Construction, the firm building the filtration system. Assembly of the international space station is slated to begin in late 1997 and continue through mid-2002. A decade or more of orbital operations is planned in order to fully construct the station. |
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