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For release: 12/05/02
Release #: 02-305
Boston native Dr. Paul Munafo receives NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal for Shuttle work
Dr. Paul Munafo, a Boston native, has received NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal for his role in returning America's Space Shuttle fleet to flight.
Photo: Munafo (NASA\MSFC)
In less than one month, working 10 to 16 hour days, seven days a week, Munafo led the team that developed a complex welding procedure to repair tiny cracks in the Shuttle Orbiter flow liners that kept the fleet out of service for three months this summer.
The flow liners are in the plumbing lines that feed liquid hydrogen to the Space Shuttle Main Engines. The liners help direct the flow of propellant through the plumbing and past accordion-shaped bellows that give the plumbing needed flexibility to withstand thermal and vibration loading when the super-cold fuel is flowing.
Munafo, manager of the Materials, Processes and Manufacturing Department at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., led NASA’s team of engineers and technicians who developed, tested and certified the technique used to repair the Space Shuttle fleet.
The Outstanding Leadership Medal, presented recently by NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe and Marshall Center Director Art Stephenson, recognizes Munafo’s exceptional dedication and commitment to NASA’s highest standards of excellence.
Within a month, Munafo and his team not only developed and certified the complex welding procedure, they also created an evaluation process to test the repair, led the design of a one-of-a-kind, full-scale simulator to train the technicians in the procedure, and implemented the repairs.
The repair team used a Gas Tungsten Arc Welding technique that results in a very pure weld with minimal impurities in the final product. In the case of the Orbiter flow liner cracks, the weld was a full penetration weld that had to go completely through the metal even though the welder only had access to one side. That increased the difficulty of the process.
Because the argon gas had to be motionless during the weld repair, the welder used an oxygen sensor to ensure he could breath adequately, and another oxygen sensor was placed near the weld to verify no oxygen was present during the repair.
Munafo, who joined the Marshall Center in 1975 as a materials research engineer, is a three-time recipient of the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, as well as numerous other NASA awards and commendations.
Among his accomplishments in Marshall’s Materials Processes and Manufacturing Department, Munafo helped develop a metal that is stronger at hotter temperatures than at cold. The metal is used in the hot sections of the turbines that drive the fuel and oxygen pumps in the Space Shuttle primary rocket engines.
His department has also worked on such projects as the development of ball bearings that are 30 percent lighter than steel but 40 percent stronger; and perfecting Friction Stir Welding — a process that allows metals to be joined together in a stronger bond than with conventional fusion welding.
Munafo graduated from Boston Technical High School in 1957. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge in 1962, and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Tulane University in New Orleans in1971. In 1996, Munafo earned a doctorate degree in materials science from Auburn University in Auburn, Ala.
About the Marshall Center
The Marshall Center is carrying out its vision of being the world leader in space transportation systems. With its rich history spanning more than four decades, Marshall remains one of NASA’s largest field centers, occupying over 1,800 acres and employing more than 2,700 civil servants. More than 23,000 contractor personnel are engaged in work for the Center, which has an annual budget of more than $2.3 billion.
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