A Superior Role in
Putting Man on the Moon
It is now an incredible 50 years since man first walked on the moon. On July 20, 1969,
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo Lunar Module on the lunar surface
and took those first historic steps while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the
Command and Service Module. All three landed safely back on Earth on July 24. It was
the culmination of President John F. Kennedy’s national goal, famously expressed in
an address to the US Congress on May 25, 1961, of “landing a man on the Moon and
returning him safely to the Earth” by the end of the 1960’s.
Superior Tube, part of AMETEK Specialty Metal
Products, is proud to have played a significant
role in that achievement.
The history of Superior Tube is a history of ‘firsts’.
In every decade since it was founded in 1934, the
company has pioneered the use of new tubing
materials and the development of innovative
tubing technologies to meet the most demanding
requirements of customers who were themselves
often breaking through the scientific and
technological barriers of the day. That record was
particularly evident during the 1960s when Superior
Tube truly entered the space age.
by Government agencies to fulfil these new, ground-
breaking programs.
For example, Superior Tube was responsible for the
tubing for the ballistic control system thrusters in
the X-15, the rocket research aircraft that set new
The company’s real journey into space began in
altitude and speed records, reaching in excess of
earnest with the OSO (Orbiting Solar Observatory)
Mach 6 (4,500 mph). Each system consisted of two
program which consisted of a series of scientific
small 40-lb thrust roll control rocket motors for
satellites designed to investigate solar phenomena
which approximately 140 feet of tubing was needed,
and to conduct a number of non-solar experiments.
tubing that had to perform reliably both in and out of OSO 1, launched by NASA in 1962, featured titanium
the Earth’s atmosphere.
tubing manufactured by Superior Tube for the
satellite’s compressed nitrogen guidance system and
This move into the development and supply of tubing for a methane purging system required for the ‘soft
for rocketry and space projects was, in some respects, X-ray’ experiments.
a natural progression for Superior Tube. Indeed, the
first rocket project for Superior Tube was the Bell
In the same year, Superior also contributed to Telstar
X-1 that broke the sound barrier in 1947. So, in
1, the world’s first communications satellite, which
large part, the company’s increasing involvement in
successfully relayed, through space, the first TV
the space age happened because it was already an
pictures, telephone calls and fax images. Then, in
approved supplier to a number of the key aerospace
1964, Superior supplied Type 304 stainless steel
contractors who were themselves being approached
tubing for the tiny radiometers in an early weather
22 TUBE NEWS June 2019