DECEMBER 2016 | 23 into a paper cup—and it combusts into a bubbling, expanding foam he said is warm to the touch. A robot later will spray this material onto a Space Launch System tank riding on tracks inside a nearby building that operates much like a carwash. “We’ve had to come up with a new blend since ET (space shuttle’s External Tank) because bigger things are coming, from the barrel to the engines, and we can cover a lot with this,” Larson said. “My kids really think I do stuff more special than I do because Photo: (Far left) A liquid chemical mixture, after it turns into a foam-like material, provides a protective coating for the fuel tanks of the Space Launch System during launch. (Above) Fabrication specialist Courtney White, in safety gear, works on the chemical mix that will insulate the fuel cells. they think I’m an astronaut. But it could be one of them in one of these first rockets.” Brandon Burroughs would not mind sharing in a capsule moment. As a load analyst intern often working alongside longtime engineers and Fabrication specialists, some with decades of experience, he brings a fresh set of engineering eyes to the Space Launch System. He attends Tuskegee University, in Tuskegee, Ala. He hails from a city historic for its Tuskegee airmen, the first African- American wartime aviators. He would like to add to his college town’s aerospace lore by involving the world’s largest rocket. “I want to be a Tuskegee spaceman
Frontiers December 2016 Issue
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