Shipping an Airlock

Brock Howe watched intently, hands on hips, head nodding, as the aluminum shipping container was slowly cranked closed.

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With the final crank, it kissed the top of the airlock he’d spent five years ushering from concept to this NASA-approved product now tucked inside two protective layers of bubblegum-pink plastic.

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FedEx would soon truck the dome-shaped airlock 1,000 miles to Florida, where it was scheduled to launch Nov. 15 to the International Space Station. It would become a door, of sorts, for satellites and experiments to exit the orbiting outpost. 

 

But first, it must survive Interstate 10.