USA Recognized for NSLD Support of ISS Operations

United Space Alliance recently was selected to receive the Boeing International Space Station (ISS) Program’s 2006 Exceptional Company Performance Award in recognition of USA’s contributions to the ISS Program.

As recipient of the award, USA was recognized as having achieved Boeing’s highest supplier rating in the areas of service, product quality, schedule performance, communication, responsiveness and overall performance. Specifically, USA was cited for its work at the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot (NSLD) on the Rotary Joint Motor Controller (RJMC), Ammonia Tank Assembly and manufacture of jackbolts and trunnion plugs in support of flights 12A and 12A.1.

The award will be presented in September.

“This presentation is part of a Boeing program to recognize suppliers that contribute to human space flight,” Brewster Shaw, Vice President and General Manager of Boeing’s Space Exploration Division, and Russell Carroll, Director of Supplier Management and Procurement also for the Space Exploration Division, wrote in the letter notifying USA of the award.

“It’s our way of thanking the USA team for supporting the ISS program. Your successful and exceptional performance on the Boeing contract is part of our nation’s historic achievements in human space flight and the ISS Program.”

The RJMC work for which USA was recognized was one of the ISS Program’s highest priorities leading up to STS-117’s rollout. The in-flight failure of RJMC brought the S3/S4 RJMC’s flight readiness into question and threatened to delay the launch of STS-117. The loss of RJMCs on orbit could have resulted in the inability of the Station’s solar and thermal arrays to rotate. The results of the troubleshooting lead to the discovery of a design flaw that causes stress on the RJMC’s circuits and resulted in changes to the RJMC on-orbit operating procedures. The revised procedure will extend the service life of the multiple RJMCs on board the ISS.

Additionally, the procedure/software change, in lieu of a hardware change, has the potential of saving significant money by eliminating the need to remove and replace RJMCs during EVAs. The jackbolt effort, also recognized by the award, involved the manufacture of 60 replacement jackbolts, 60 spares and rework of one associated trunnion plug within the S5 Truss mod kit. The Ammonia Tank Assembly effort involved machining 16 Ammonia Tank Assembly bolts to the latest configuration.

The NSLD provided engineering, machining/manufacturing and technical services, including quality and project management support, for these efforts. In addition, the NSLD is certified and performs periodic maintenance on the following significant ISS hardware: the Bearing Assembly (BAXS), Trundle Bearings, Utility Transfer Assembly (UTA), TRRJ Drive-Lock Assembly (TDLA), Power and Data Transfer Assembly (PDTA), Flexible Hose Rotary Coupler (FHRC) and the SARJ Drive Lock Assembly.

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