Esterline and our suppliers celebrate along with NASA this first-time successful launch of our nation’s newest rocket.

Congratulations to NASA and the entire Ares I-X team on the spectacular October 28 launch! The success of the Ares I-X is the ultimate verification of NASA, ATK and United Space Alliance’s position as world leaders in space exploration. 

Esterline’s Engineered Materials Team, with ATK’s oversight, is developing a new ablative insulation for the Ares I program that exceeds the performance of our current insulation used in the Space Shuttle boosters. Our success in improving the performance was possible because of strong technical support from our suppliers.  Esterline’s insulation was selected for the Ares program after extensive testing of many potential candidates. Esterline Engineered Materials has been a proud supporter and supplier of ablative liners used for solid propellant rockets such as the Space Shuttle. With this successful launch, we look forward to continuing to provide our improved ablative material for the next and future generation Ares programs. 

Larry Pierce, Vice President of Technology with Esterline Engineered Materials said, “This successful launch is a key step for our nation’s efforts to advance human space flight and NASA’s continued progress toward the next step in space exploration. Esterline is proud to play a part and looks forward with anticipation to the Ares being selected as the replacement for the Space Shuttle.”