Hi all! Long time lurker, first time poster. Hoping someone out there in Reddit-land can help. I brought one of these "space flown" thingies a few years ago for a lot of money. I just got two more for much cheaper (sorry if I sniped you on eBay). But what the heck is it? the S/N or part numbers on the back don't tell much although I did see a related post in my long searches about "V070" means it came from a part of the Vert stabilizer of an orbiter. Anyhow; all the auctions said about these are that they are MLI (multi layer insulation) or TCS (thermal control system). I think I saw something saying these were the plugs for the cables for the landing slowdown parachute. I can take more photos or type up the P/Ns if you're interested; but if anyone recognizes this right away I'd name my 7th kid after you or something. Respectfully yours, Andy in Florida.
Thermal Insulation Liner for the STS-1
Edit: https://acesinaction.com/products/space-transportation-system-1-space-shuttle-columbia
Yep; I agree - but what exact place or function? The orbiters are huge - why did Nasa spend so much time handmaking these small-brick-sized thingies? This is not a large panel; this is a small folded-and-sewn block shape; a metallic mesh square; a small slit patch; underneath is a rectangle of white foam material covered in orange translucent tape. Someone spent a lot of time making each of these unique shapes to fit into something...! SO STRANGE! The white is definitely payload bay liner beta-cloth type stuff. But each of these items are slightly different and unique; and all have the rim sewn into it; but the orientation of the slit patch changes sometimes.
Each of the thermal protection tiles are specific to the location where it was installed, so it's not surprising that there are other items created that are very specific like this.
The TPS has more than 24.000 unique heat tiles, each belong to one and only one place... If you're really curious, my best advice would be to find a picture of the shielded payload bay and identify the one liner you've got.
No idea, but the folks at CollectSpace are pretty good at digging into records and logs.
These sections of thermal insulation were installed on the inner edge of the payload bay doors.
https://preview.redd.it/0efxtzdk50cg1.jpeg?width=3032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce8a149f2ce7dc2664c281dbfde46e75f636d94b
https://preview.redd.it/svim05fo51cg1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a51da3264f94e15f7eea49f47e8260f2e9d965a5
Guess which one cost 10x the other two- haha.
https://preview.redd.it/499112g061cg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1a8d9c43af9765cb9865ef9ae442674949fcb4e
Closeup
Beta cloth, kapton tape, and aramid thread were ubiquitous on the Orbiter. If you can post a part number, that will get you a lot further in your search. BTW, V070 just means a flight part, not specific to the vertical tail.
https://preview.redd.it/jwvq5yus51cg1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=41b76ebb1f997d7eb21fcf1c93a7b57ab9e9681c
Good advice - will post comments w closeups in case anyone's curious; I can't find a way to reply with multiple images; shoulda done a bunch of images at initial post. Learning here!
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.
3 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 6 acronyms.
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Maybe things have changed, but the quality of stitching on these doesn’t resemble anything that would be put out by the softgoods lab at JSC. Maybe these were mock-ups.