Photo shows James Webb Space Telescope mirror segments.
“Yeah, sure, NASA launches rockets and sends probes into outer space. It’s neat I guess. But, so what? What they do doesn’t affect me personally.” I’ve heard a few folks say this in my 23+ years with NASA. And every time they are stunned by my response.
Let’s start at home. There are many from Cullman who drive to Huntsville and the surrounding area to either work for NASA or work at a company that supports NASA. Locally, at least one company has supported NASA since the 1960s. Speedring came from Michigan looking to grow. And grow it did. Of course today it is owned by General Dynamics.
The Apollo 11 mission put a Laser Ranging Experiment on the moon. Basically a small mirror. This is used to measure the distance between the Earth and Moon using a laser. That mirror was made at Speedring.
When the Shuttle program came along, so did another opportunity for Speedring to participate in history. Remember the six oddly shaped windows on the front of the Orbiters? If not, a quick internet search will jog your memory. Speedring made the frames for those windows.
On April 24, 1990, NASA lunched the Hubble Space Telescope. Even today we are getting back wondrous photographs from this revolutionary piece of hardware. Speedring made the jaws that held it for flight. Sounds like a simple thing, but for those who worked that project at Speedring, it was quite the task to meet the special specifications and requirements.
NASA’s Gravity Probe B (GPB) was the longest continuous project at NASA (over 40 years). On April 20, 2004 it finally launched. This special probe was designed to test Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. The idea of that alone boggles the mind, but to know it is made of Quartz leads to jaws dropping. All the quartz glass parts were precision finished here in Cullman at Hayden Precision Finishing, owned by Joe Hayden, a retired member of the Speedring team.
Most recently, Speedring is working on the mirrors for a “little” project by NASA called the James Webb Space Telescope. It is much larger than Hubble and will be able to see much farther. This telescope is scheduled to launch around Oct. 2018.
Ever watch “Bing Bang Theory?” The lovable nerds on that show often go to the roof of their apartment building and shoot a laser at that little Moon mirror and measure that distance. And that is true evidence that we actually went to the Moon. Otherwise the laser’s beam would never “bounce back” off the surface. That’s good info if you ever run into a “non-believer” of the space program. They also discuss GPB and James Webb often too. Listen closely the next time you watch!
Okay, so are you starting to see your connection? This is just the beginning, folks. There are many family, company and personal connections to NASA and the aerospace community here in Cullman. Through this column I will take you from inside your home, to the car you drive, to your hospital care and all the things in between, that are spin-offs from NASA projects that touch you personally every day. I hope you keep reading and enjoy!
