News media will have an opportunity on Thursday to see the “pencil sharpener” tool designed to trim the hand-sprayed foam repairs on the STS-117 external tank. This portable tool was designed in just ten days specifically for this task by Lockheed Martin engineer Glenn Lapeyronnie at the Michoud external tank manufacturing facility in New Orleans.
Lapeyronnie will be available at the NASA News Center at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, June 7, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to display the innovative new tool and explain its rapid development.
The pencil sharpener tool fits over the external tank nose cone spike at the top of the tank and extends down to where the hand-sprayed foam was used to repair the hail-damaged areas.
For more information about the STS-117 mission, visit:
