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Author
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Topic: Layered foam on aluminum, what is this?
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CoreyRoth
New Member Posts: 6
From: Dallas, Texas
Registered: May 2014
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posted 08-20-2014 12:08 PM
   
I have two items I obtained from the estate of a NASA employee who worked for NASA for over 30 years. They are both about 1.5" square, one has been sealed in a plastic cube and the other has not. They both have aluminum bases, a charcoal color layer in the middle and an off yellow foam remaining. They are similar, though one is much thicker than the other. Can anyone help me as to what these might be? I would appreciate it very much! Happy Space Collecting! |
mmcmurrey
Member Posts: 114
From: Austin, TX, USA
Registered: Jun 2012
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posted 08-20-2014 01:25 PM
It sounds like you have cut pieces of the Gemini spacecraft's heatshield. |
Jeff
Member Posts: 474
From: Fayetteville, NC, USA
Registered: May 2009
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posted 08-20-2014 03:15 PM
It would help your research if you could post some pictures for everyone to look at.Editor's note: How to post images. |
joe bruce
Member Posts: 129
From: Spokane, WA U.S.A.
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 08-20-2014 11:00 PM
It would be great to see photos. What are the dimensions? From the description they sound similar to my ET cross section piece from the shuttle program. Is the outer foam surface rather rough?This is a photo of my ET piece.  
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Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 08-21-2014 03:34 AM
Looks like a shuttle ET foam insulation sample produced for the media by Lockheed Martin. It is the right kind of shape and size and the surface texture looks right too. Similar samples I have seen over the years have not been as dark, nor have they had the darker insulation layer, which I believe was used on early flown tanks. ET foam insulation is a pale yellow or cream when initially applied but turns the recognizable orange over time when exposed to daylight. This sample may have been sat on the guys window sill a good while. All the more poignant sat next to the STS-107 exhibit. |
joe bruce
Member Posts: 129
From: Spokane, WA U.S.A.
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 08-21-2014 08:17 AM
Rick, This was in the heyday of the program. I sent a written request for information about the ET and this is what they sent to me. I almost lost it when I placed it on the roof of my car and my wife took the car. A few blocks away she saw something bouncing down the street behind her. She stopped in the middle of the street and went back to recover the piece. This sounds like what Corey might have described in an earlier post. |
CoreyRoth
New Member Posts: 6
From: Dallas, Texas
Registered: May 2014
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posted 08-21-2014 12:20 PM
The pictures of the item posted in the display case is exactly what I have. Although one of the surfaces is much rougher than the other one is. (The one that's in the plastic cube.) Very cool pieces. |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 08-21-2014 04:24 PM
In 1981 I was sent a media pack that included a similar white ET sample for STS-1. The white foam was sprayed directly on to the aluminium sheet though a seperate sample of the darker "base" was also included along with cubes of black and white tile and foam spacers.In 1995 I picked up in person a larger sample of the later insulation from a PAO friend at Lockheed Martin in Michoud which has on the whole, retained its original pale cream colour. They make for a neat piece of memorabilia and are clearly..... durable!  What is the STS-107 piece to the right of the shot? I can't make out the label. |
joe bruce
Member Posts: 129
From: Spokane, WA U.S.A.
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 08-21-2014 08:10 PM
Rick, the valve is a water valve from Columbia that I purchased from John Fongheiser. This is a photo of the entire display. I had not put the ET piece in the display when I took this photo.  |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 08-22-2014 10:20 AM
Thanks Joe. Beautiful display. |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1306
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 08-23-2014 12:52 PM
It does not look like something from Gemini. I go with the ET on this one. |
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