THE ROCKET MAKERS With cutting-edge technology, Boeing employees once again are helping build a mighty rocket By Bill Seil and photos by Bob Ferguson Will Walsten, a fabrication specialist who joined Boeing in 2010, is helping build the world’s most powerful rocket. It’s a challenging task. At NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans, where both the Saturn V moon rocket and the external tanks for the space shuttle were built, Walsten operates the robotic systems that will be used in advanced friction stir welding to join the huge sections of the new launch vehicle called the Space Launch System, or SLS. In fact, he had a part in developing the friction stir welding techniques that will best meet the needs of the program. Friction stir welding, a dramatic leap from conventional welding, uses a rapidly rotating pin to generate heat that fuses metallic materials. “Friction stir welding is the latest, greatest thing in welding,” Walsten said. “The welds are considerably stronger and virtually defect-free.” Friction stir welding was not available for use on the external tanks of the space shuttle until the program was coming to a close. And long before the first shuttle flight, the Saturn V had made its last launch. “I was in awe when I was a little boy and I first saw a Saturn V,” Walsten said of the powerful rocket that hurled U.S. astronauts to the moon. “And today I’m in awe of this new rocket and very proud of my part in building it.” NASA’s Space Launch System will be the first rocket in 40 years capable of launching astronauts beyond Earth orbit. Boeing is responsible for building the core cryogenic stage and the avionics system—the backbone and the brains—of the new rocket. But a lot has changed since the three-stage Saturn V was built in the 1960s, and Boeing’s Space Launch System program is forging ahead with a talented, energetic team and cutting-edge design and manufacturing technology. A vertical weld center has been built at Michoud to friction-stir-weld the panels that will make up the “barrels” of the core stage’s two pressur-ized tanks. Another weld facility will be used to assemble the domes that are placed at either end of the barrels. A 170-foot-tall (52-meter) Vertical Assembly Center, which includes one of the world’s largest welding tools, will be used to assemble the full core stage. Walsten is also a “lift person in charge” at Michoud, meaning he PHOTOS: (Insets, clockwise from top left) David White, Fabrication specialist, operates finish machining equipment; Michael Gough, top, Fabrication specialist, and Lennis Conrad, manufacturing engineer, inspect a weld; Fabrication specialists Daryl Smith, left, and Tim Livengood set up to weld on the Segmented Ring Tool. (Right) Safety and quality specialists Mike Sweeney, left, and Jay Schmitt inspect a barrel friction stir weld. 28 Frontiers February 2014
Frontiers February 2014 Issue
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