Word: contractor
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Sometimes inventors draw a bead on one target, score a bull's eye on another. Sacramento's Aerojet-General Corp., prime contractor for the Polaris missile's propellant, found that when the solid fuel was molded, bubbles tended to form, caused trouble in firing. To find the bubbles, the company had to haul the finished rocket motor to a giant X-ray laboratory, spend two to three weeks taking pictures. Aerojet's radiation experts went to work, found they could do the job in hours by slipping in a radioactive cobalt pill, using photon-counters...
...colonels concerned only to have his loaded trucks held up at the gate by a young captain of the guard who inquired with pointed effect, "Don't you think captains are as good as colonels?" "They aren't even subtle about it," says one prosperous contractor. "We all regard it as merely part of the deal. Frequently, we negotiate to come to terms. But dealing with royalty, for example, remains pretty much of a command performance." Most notable of Iran's royal tycoons: the Shah's twin sister, Princess Ashraf, who has already made two husbands...
...Good News Came. Gross was also counting on other good news. Last week for example, Lockheed's Agena-Discoverer satellite produced a space "first" when its nose cone was recovered after being placed in orbit (see SCIENCE). Lockheed is the prime contractor for the orbiting Midas satellite, which is equipped with infra-red sensors to detect the heat of ballistic missiles and send a warning back to earth. It is also working on the Samos global surveillance system. Along with the Martin Co., Lockheed was chosen fortnight ago to study the feasibility of a nuclear rocket, a development that...
...Miami Contractor Edwin Montholeum Green began to cough up blood around Christmas 1955. On Feb. 1, 1956, he was diagnosed as having lung cancer, too far advanced to be removed by surgery. Green died early in 1958, soon after he had given a deposition to Lawrence V. Hastings, a physician and attorney...
Like Building Dams? The Atlas' woes show that it takes more than a big budget and brainy scientists to win the missile race. One of the chief difficulties has been the lack of central direction. The Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, after approving the plans of the prime contractor, turns the job of letting construction contracts over to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Air Force and the Army engineers each blame the other for the delays. The Army charges that the Air Force makes impossible demands, frequently changes its mind; the Air Force replies that the Army...