Jan 30 1978
From The Space Library
FBIS reported that the People's Republic of China had launched on Jan. 26 an earth satellite that had functioned normally in orbit and returned to earth "after fulfilling tasks of scientific experimentation." The report added that the achievement had resulted from the guidance of the wise leader Chairman Hua Kuo-feng. (FBIS, Tass in English, Jan 30/78)
Thiokol Corp.'s Wasatch Div. had used an airfilm material-handling system at its Brigham City, Utah, plant to move and position Space Shuttle solid-fuel rocket-motor components weighing up to 300 000lb, Av Wk reported. The size of components for the Shuttle's solid-fuel rocket motors and the large number of Shuttle missions expected had led Thiokol to try new types of material-handling systems.
Heaviest load moved had been a solid-fuel rocket-motor casting segment loaded with propellant weighing about 300 000lb on a transporter dolly weighing an additional 50 000lb, for a combined total of about 175 tons moved. (The motor would consist of four segments individually cast with solid rocket motor fuel in one of several pits at the Thiokol facility.) The airfilm system used compressed air to inflate urethane pads (bearings) attached to the bottom of specially-designed dollies; air forced into the bearings and seeping between them and the floor had created a space of two or three hundredths of an inch-enough to "float" the transporter and its load on a film of air. (Av Wk, Jan 30/78, 56)
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