Camarillo Firm Keeps Space Station Linked
If Thomas Cleary seems to be staring into the night sky a lot, it’s understandable. The chairman and chief executive of G & H Technology probably is making sure that his products are functioning correctly.
About 245 miles above Earth, connection devices created by the Camarillo firm are busy at work as part of the International Space Station. G & H connectors were used during the construction of the space station and to link Russian and U.S. components.
“We completed the [NASA] qualification on these parts back in 1994, and they were the first electrical connectors that qualified for the space stations,” Cleary said.
“All of the materials must be [emitting no gases]. They have to be very carefully selected; they cannot be flammable. They go through a very careful quality assurance work.”
During the manufacturing process, Cleary said, he invited astronauts Jim Newman and Robert Cabana to spend a day with his approximately 160 employees, to help G & H Technology staff put their work into perspective.
“Jim Newman and other astronauts did the work outside the shuttle. . . . I think the major factor in this whole thing is that all of these are life-support-type devices,” Cleary said.
“When you have a responsibility such as we have, you want to convey that responsibility to everybody in your organization.”
In return, Cleary and his family were invited to the December launch of the space shuttle Endeavour. The mission called for Newman to assemble the space station’s Early Communications System in a spacewalk maneuver.
G & H Technology manufactures devices and subsystems for the military and aerospace industries.
The company’s products have been incorporated into space shuttles, Skylab, global positioning satellite systems and the Hubble telescope.
Cleary said the company will continue to supply parts to the space station project.
“We are through the design and development stage, but as various modules go along, they will continue to order from us,” he said. “We will continue to supply to various vendors like Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Goodyear and others who will require quality and very carefully controlled connectors.”
In 1997, Cleary received a top honor in the Greater Los Angeles Entrepreneur of the Year Award Program sponsored by the Ernst & Young LLP accounting and consulting firm. In part, the award recognized Cleary’s turnaround of the 50-year-old firm, which had lost about $16 million over the previous three years.
