Insulation Maker Not Consulted

The manufacturer of the foam insulation that broke away and struck Columbia’s left wing during the space shuttle’s launch said Monday that it presently “has no reason to believe that our product is associated” with Saturday’s fatal breakup.

Swanson Snow, president of North Carolina Foam Industries, which operates from a plant here that is adorned with photographs of space shuttle launches, said in an interview that no one from NASA or any investigative agency had contacted the firm with questions about the insulation. Nor was the company consulted while NASA engineers conferred during Columbia’s time in orbit about whether the falling insulation could have seriously damaged the spacecraft, he said.

The suspect insulation is a polyurethane foam sprayed onto the large external fuel tank that rockets the shuttle into orbit in the minutes after the outside booster rockets fall away. The foam is applied to the tanks where they are manufactured, at the Lockheed Martin Corp. plant in suburban New Orleans.

Snow said in an interview that North Carolina Foam simply trucks liquid chemicals in 55-gallon drums to Louisiana. It is applied, he said, by Lockheed personnel, and Snow directed most questions about the foam’s effectiveness to the defense contractor.

The chemical brew also is made according to a recipe specified by Lockheed, Snow said. Once applied, the foamy liquid hardens into a dense, though lightweight, surface insulation.

The chemical formula for the insulation changed in 1998, eliminating Freon to meet environmental regulations that required reductions in ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons.

Snow said he did not think the new product was less adherent than its predecessor, which was made by a different company. “As far as we know, there’s no difference,” he said. “As far as we know, it’s as good as it gets.”

An estimated 2 1/2-pound section of the insulation came loose during Columbia’s launch and is believed to have struck the underside of the shuttle’s left wing and the protective heat shield tiles.

Snow said his company had not been contacted by either NASA or Lockheed about the investigation into the Columbia mishap. He said he had no information about previous episodes of insulation loss that caused minor shuttle damage.

He said the company had never received NASA requests to alter its products and never felt any cost pressure to deliver an inferior product.

North Carolina Foam, a subsidiary of Charlotte, N.C.-based Barnhardt Manufacturing Co., has been a subcontractor on the shuttle program since 1983.

The Lockheed/NASA contract accounts for only 2% of the revenue of the privately held company, Snow said. Fewer than 10 of the manufacturer’s 175 workers are assigned to the account.

The company also makes cushioning and insulating foam for upholstery, bedding and housing. It was formed in 1964 by Barnhardt, a specialty cotton textile company that dates back to 1900.

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Times researcher Nona Yates contributed to this report.