Page 90 - MY STORY

hydrogen temperatures, enabling us to reduce the wall

thickness (and weight) of the spheres. We had never used
this titanium alloy at such low temperature before, and we
engaged in a detailed test program to ensure the efficacy

of our design.

We had liquid hydrogen test facilities at the Santa Monica

plant. One of the test series involved determining the
“low-cycle, high-stress” fatigue behavior of this titanium
alloy. When the test series was complete I was requested

by NASA to write a paper for the American Society for
Testing Materials (ASTM) on the procedure and test

results of our low-temperature fatigue series.

The paper was accepted for publication and
PRESENTATION at the upcoming ASTM symposium in

Los Angeles. Since I was the key author, I was delegated
the task of presenting the paper. I cannot begin to tell you

of the terror associated with this assignment. I had not
forgotten my behavior in front of a friendly audience
during my college days. Nothing had changed, nor had I

ever had to make a presentation to a large audience prior
to this event.