A Trident C-4 FBM launches and fires its Thiokol solid rocket first stage

Thiokol (variously Thiokol Chemical Company, Morton-Thiokol Inc., and Cordant Technologies Inc.) is a U.S. corporation concerned initially with rubber and related chemicals, and later with rocket and missile propulsion systems. Its name is a portmanteau of the Greek words for sulfur (Θειο "theio") and glue (κολλα "kolla"), an allusion to the company's initial product. Trident Missile File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Trident Missile File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Ohio-class submarine launches Trident ICBMs (US Navy graphic) The Trident missile is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) which is armed with nuclear warheads and is launched from submarines (SSBNs), making it a SLBM. The Trident was built in two variants: the I (C4) UGM-93A and II (D5) UGM... The Space Shuttle Columbia is initially launched using solid-fuel boosters Solid rockets are rockets with a motor that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). ... The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America, the States, or (archaically) Columbia—is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii). ... Look up Portmanteau in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... General Name, Symbol, Number sulfur, S, 16 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 3, p Appearance lemon yellow Atomic mass 32. ... Historically, glue only refers to protein colloid adhesives prepared from animal tissues, such as hide glue, bone glue, or fish glue. ...

The Thiokol Chemical Company was founded in 1929. Its initial business was a range of synthetic rubber and polymer sealants, and Thiokol was a major supplier of liquid polymer sealants during World War II. When scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory discovered Thiokol's polymers made ideal rocket fuels, Thiokol moved into the new field, opening laboratories at Elkton, Maryland and later production facilities at Elkton and at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Huntsville produced the XM33 Pollux, TX-18 Falcon, and TX-135 Nike-Zeus systems. It closed in 1996. In the mid 1950s the company bought extensive lands in Utah for its rocket test range, and continues to have major operations in the state, at Magna, Promontory (home of the space shuttle's SRB), and its current headquarters at Brigham City. As of 2005 the company employs over 4,000 people worldwide and records annual sales of around $ 840 million.-1... Polymer is a generic term used to describe a very long molecule consisting of structural units and repeating units connected by covalent chemical bonds. ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths {{{notes}}} World War II, also known as the Second World War (sometimes WW2 or WWII or World War Two), was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the... The Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in La Cañada Flintridge, near Pasadena, California, USA, builds and operates unmanned spacecraft for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ... Elkton is a town located in Cecil County, Maryland. ... Redstone Arsenal is a census-designated place and U.S. Army post located next to the city of Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Launch of a Nike Zeus missile Project Nike was a US Army project, proposed in May 1945 by Bell Labs, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... // Events and trends This map shows two essential global spheres during the Cold War in 1959. ... Official language(s) English Capital Salt Lake City Largest city Salt Lake City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 13th 219,887 km² 435 km 565 km 3. ... Magna is a census-designated place located in Salt Lake County, Utah. ... Promontory is a location in Box Elder County, Utah, centered approximately at 41°3707N, 112°3251W, with an elevation of 1494 meters (4902 feet) above sea level. ... Brigham City is a city located in Box Elder County, Utah. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about general United States currency. ...

Company history

• 1929: Thiokol Chemical Company founded.
• 1949: Thiokol produce the TX-18 Falcon missile, the world's first solid-fueled missile system.
• 1957: In anticipation of the forthcoming Minuteman contract, the company builds its plant at Brigham City, Utah.
• 1957: Thiokol Huntsville builds XM33 Pollux missile
• 1958: Merger with Reaction Motors Inc. (RMI), makers of liquid propellant rocket motor systems.
• 1958: Thiokol awarded contract to build the TU-122 rocket motor for the first stage of the LGM-30 Minuteman ICBM system.
• 1959: Thiokol Huntsville produces CASTOR strap-on booster rocket, used on the Atlas rocket.
• 1974: Thiokol wins the contract to build the solid rocket booster (SRB) for the Space Shuttle
• 1978: The company sells its ski lift division to CTEC and its snow equipment division to Logan Manufacturing Company (LMC), owned by John DeLorean.
• 1980: Acquires Carlisle Chemical Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.
• 1982: Thiokol merges with Morton-Norwich products (owners of the Morton salt concern, the Simoniz automotive products brand, and various chemical concerns). The merged company is called Morton Thiokol Incorporated (MTI).
• 1986: An O-ring fault in an MTI SRB destroys space shuttle Challenger in flight
• 1989: Morton Thiokol splits, with most of the chemical concern going with Morton. The propulsion systems divsion becomes Thiokol Inc.
• 1998: Thiokol changes name to Cordant Technologies.
• 2000: Thiokol merges with two divisions of Alcoa and with Howmet Castings and Huck Fasteners to become AIC Group (Alcoa Industrial Components).
• 2001: Alliant Techsystems (ATK) Inc. (a company formed when Honeywell spun off its defense division) spends $2.9 billion buying Thiokol and related businesses from AIC/Alcoa. ATK built the third stage of the Trident missile and had earlier bought Hercules Aerospace Co., builder of the second stage. With the purchase of Thiokol, who make the missile's first stage, ATK controls the lion's share of the US solid-rocket market.

The LGM-30 Minuteman is a United States nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). ... A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ... Mercury Atlas 9 rocket and capsule on pad The Atlas is a venerable line of space launch vehicles built by Lockheed Martin. ... NASA Image of the final solid rocket booster (right) being mated to a Delta II rocket (blue). ... The Space Shuttle Columbia seconds after engine ignition, 1981 (NASA). ... A chairlift A chairlift is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a constantly moving loop of steel cable strung between two end terminals and generally over intermediate towers. ... Doppelmayr CTEC is an aerial lift manufacturer based in Salt Lake City, Utah and Saint-Jérôme, Quebec and originally known as CTEC. It is the successor to Thiokols ski lift division, founded in 1976 by Jan Leonard and Mark Ballantyne, who had worked for Thiokol since the... De Lorean featured with his namesake car, the De Lorean DMC-12 John Z. De Lorean (born John Zachary Delorean) is a personality, engineer, and executive in the U.S. automobile industry, and founder of the De Lorean Motor Company. ... Nickname: The Queen City Motto: Official website: http://www. ... Typical O-ring and application An O-ring is a loop of elastomer with a round (o-shaped) cross-section used as a mechanical seal. ... The launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission 51L/STS-33, the 25th of the STS (Space Transportation System) program, began at an estimated time of 16:38:00. ... Alcoa NYSE: AA is the world’s leading producer of primary and fabricated aluminum, and alumina with operations in 43 countries. ... Alliant Techsystems NYSE: ATK is a major US aerospace and defense contractor with sales of approximately USD $2. ... Honeywell NYSE: HON is a major American multinational corporation that produces electronic control systems and automation equipment. ... Ohio-class submarine launches Trident ICBMs (US Navy graphic) The Trident missile is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) which is armed with nuclear warheads and is launched from submarines (SSBNs), making it a SLBM. The Trident was built in two variants: the I (C4) UGM-93A and II (D5) UGM...

Products

Thiokol gas generators were used in the airbags on Mars Pathfinder. The top photo shows a complete airbag assembly under test, the bottom shows the three titanium Thiokol gas generators used to inflate the airbags.

Products made by the aerospace divisions of RMI and Thiokol include motors used in Subroc, the Pershing missile, the Peacekeeper missile, Poseidon missile, and the Trident I and Trident II missiles. Thiokol produces powerplants for numerous U.S. military missile systems, including AIM-9 Sidewinder, AGM-88 HARM, AGM-65 Maverick, AGM-69 SRAM, and AIR-2 Genie. Image File history File links Two images of the airbag systems used on Mars Pathfinder. ... Image File history File links Two images of the airbag systems used on Mars Pathfinder. ... An airbag is a flexible membrane or envelope, inflatable to contain air or some other gas. ... The Mars Pathfinder was launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II rocket, just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. ... A Subroc was a type of submarine launched rocket intended for use as an anti-submarine weapon. ... The Pershing II Missile during a test flight The MGM-31 Pershing was a solid-fueled two-stage inertially guided medium range ballistic missile used by the U.S. Armys Missile Command. ... Test launch of Peacekeeper ICBM from Vandenberg AFB, CA (USAF) The LG-118A Peacekeeper is a land-based ICBM deployed by the United States starting in 1986. ... The Poseidon missile was the second US Navy ballistic missile system, powered by a two-stage solid fuel rocket. ... Sidewinder Missile The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a heat-seeking, short-range, air-to-air missile carried by fighter aircraft. ... The AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-radiation Missile (HARM) is an air-to-surface tactical missile designed to seek out and destroy enemy radar-equipped air defense systems. ... The AGM-65 Maverick is an air-to-surface tactical missile (ASM) designed for close air support, prohibition, and forceful prevention. ... The Boeing AGM-69 SRAM (Short-range attack missile) was a nuclear air-to-surface missile designed to replace the older AGM-28 Hound Dog stand-off missile. ... An AIR-2 Genie on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force The Genie was an unguided air-to-air missile with a nuclear warhead, used by interceptor aircraft of the United States Air Force. ...

Thiokol also produced a variety of liquid and solid rocket motors for the US space program, including deorbit motors for the Mercury and Gemini programs, rocket stages and separation rocket motors for the Apollo program, motors for the Pioneer, Surveyor, Viking, Voyager, and Magellan missions, updated CASTOR boosters for the Delta rocket, and the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster. Reaction Motors powerplants propelled the X-1 and X-15 aircraft, and later Thiokol technologies were also used in the private Tier One manned spaceplane. The Space Shuttle Columbia is initially launched using solid-fuel boosters Solid rockets are rockets with a motor that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). ... NASA logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Description Role: Orbital spaceflight Crew: one, pilot Dimensions Height: 11. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Description Role: Earth and Lunar Orbit Crew: 3; CDR, CM pilot, LM pilot Dimensions Height: 36. ... The American Pioneer program of unmanned space missions was designed for planetary exploration. ... Diagram of Surveyor lunar landing spacecraft (NASA) The Surveyor Program comprised unmanned spaceflights to the Moon, with soft landings, without returning (although Surveyor 6 became the first spacecraft to lift off the moon). ... NASAs Viking program consisted of two unmanned space missions to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2. ... The Voyager spacecraft Launch of Voyager 2 Voyager is also the name of a planned series of unmanned probes to Mars, cancelled in 1968. ... Magellan spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center The Magellan spacecraft carried out a mission from 1989-1994, orbiting Venus from 1990-1994. ... Delta EELV family of launch vehicles (US Govt) Delta rocket (sometimes retroactively called Delta I) Delta II rocket Delta III rocket Delta IV rocket The Delta family of expendable launch vehicles has been a mainstay of the United States space launch capability since 1960. ... The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) is the rocket that provides most of the thrust required to launch the Space Shuttle into Low Earth orbit. ... The Bell X-1 was the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in controlled, level flight. ... The X-15 in flight, early 1960s The North American X-15 rocket plane was perhaps the most important of the USAF/USN X-series of experimental aircraft. ... Tier One is Scaled Composites program of suborbital human spaceflight using the reusable spacecraft SpaceShipOne and its launcher White Knight. ... A spaceplane is a rocket plane designed to pass the edge of space. ...

In addition to ski lifts, Thiokol produced a range of equipment for ski resorts including snowcats and snow grooming vehicles. These businesses were spun off in 1978 when the company restructured itself to concentrate on its rocket products and related technologies. A ski area is a place where one goes to participate in the sports of skiing and snowboarding. ... Pisten Bully 300 Polar snowcat moving snow A Snowcat is an enclosed-cab, truck sized, fully tracked vehicle designed to move on snow. ...

Thiokol pioneered the short-burn rocket motors used in aircraft ejector seats. The company also produced a number of the earliest practical airbag systems, building the high-speed sodium azide exothermic gas generators used to inflate the bags. Thiokol bags were first used in U.S. military aircraft, before being adapted to space exploration (Mars Pathfinder bounced down on Mars on Thiokol airbags) and automotive airbags. Thiokol's generators form the core of more than 60% of airbags sold worldwide, in everything from the Lincoln Towncar to the Mazda Miata. US Air Force F/A-22 Raptor ejection seat test using a mannequin. ... An automobile airbag, like this one in a crashed SEAT Ibiza car, deflates after 0. ... Sodium azide (NaN3) is a highly toxic chemical that exists as an odorless white solid. ... In chemistry, an exothermic reaction is one that releases heat. ... The Mars Pathfinder was launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II rocket, just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. ... The Mazda MX-5 is a popular sports car built by Mazda in Hiroshima, Japan. ...

References

• ATK Thiokol homepage
• History of Reaction Motors Inc.
• History of Thiokol
• Photographs of Thiokol snowcat and snow grooming equipment