Space Shuttle Thermal Protection Tile Development
1973 · 20th Century
Lockheed Missiles and Space Company won the NASA contract to develop thermal protection tiles for the Space Shuttle orbiter. Engineer Robert Beasley had invented LI-900, a silica-fiber ceramic tile that was 94% air by volume and 99.9% pure silica, capable of withstanding temperatures up to 1,204 degrees Celsius. Developed at Lockheed's Sunnyvale facility with testing at NASA Ames Research Center, the tiles solved the problem of reusable thermal shielding for spacecraft reentry, replacing ablative heat shields used in earlier programs.
Key Figures
Robert Beasley
Locations
Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, SunnyvaleNASA Ames Research Center
Topics
NASASpace Shuttlethermal protectionceramicssilica tilesreusable spacecraft
Connected Events — 3 Connections
LI-900 thermal protection tiles were essential to Columbia's first flight, though tile attachment issues delayed the launch by years STS-1: First Space Shuttle Launch
Discovery used refined versions of the LI-900 thermal protection system developed under this contract Space Shuttle Discovery Launched
Apollo program's ablative heat shields demonstrated reentry thermal challenges that LI-900 tiles aimed to solve with a reusable alternative Apollo 11 Moon Landing
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