Page 113 - MY STORY

negotiations, it was decided to make them the prime

contractor for this effort, mainly because NASA wanted it
that way.

As the three team members began to work together to do
development and initial design some problems began to
crop up.

The first was the feeling that Thiokol really did not want
us in this relationship. They would rather work directly

with Newport News without any guidance from us.

Second, Newport News kept insisting on using their
welding methodology for this high strength version of
Maraging steel instead of ours. They had little data to
support that decision and the little bit of data we reviewed

indicated that their welding technique resulted in lowered
ductility and weld toughness.

Third, we felt that even with our welding technology the
weld fracture toughness was not as good as desired, and

we asked Thiokol and Newport News to consider a
slightly lower strength level Maraging Steel composition.