the trademarked polymer see thiokol polymer . thiokol chemical corporation industry aerospace manufacturing chemicals fate purchased by atk launch systems group founded december 5 1929 defunct 2007 headquarters ogden utah us products rocket engines number of employees 15 000 parent cordant technologies website www.atk.com business groups atk aerospace thiokol variously thiokol chemical corporation morton thiokol inc. cordant technologies inc. thiokol propulsion aic group atk thiokol ; finally atk launch systems group before becoming part of orbital atk was an american corporation concerned initially with rubber and related chemicals and later with rocket and missile propulsion systems . its name is a portmanteau of the greek words for sulfur theion and glue kolla an allusion to the company s initial product thiokol polymer . the thiokol chemical company was founded in 1929 . its initial business was a range of synthetic rubber and polymer sealants and thiokol was a major supplier of liquid polymer sealants during world war ii . when scientists at the jet propulsion laboratory discovered that thiokol s polymers made ideal binders for solid rocket fuels thiokol moved into the new field opening laboratories at elkton maryland and later production facilities at elkton and at redstone arsenal in huntsville alabama . huntsville produced the xm33 pollux tx 18 falcon and tx 135 nike zeus systems . it closed in 1996 . in the mid 1950s the company bought extensive lands in utah for its rocket test range and in 1986 was found at fault for the destruction of the space shuttle challenger and the deaths of its astronauts . thiokol continues to have major operations in the state at magna and promontory manufacture of the space shuttle s solid rocket motors and its current headquarters at brigham city . as of 2005 update the company employed over 15 000 people worldwide and records annual sales of around us 840 million . contents 1 company history 2 products 3 see also 4 references 5 external links company history edit model 601 u.s.a.f. thiokol snowcat 1926 two chemists joseph c. patrick and nathan mnookin were trying to invent an inexpensive antifreeze . in the course of an experiment involving ethylene dichloride and sodium polysulfide they created a gum whose outstanding characteristic was a terrible odor . 1 the substance clogged a sink in the laboratory and none of the solvents used to remove it were successful . then the frustrated chemists realized that the resistance of the material to any kind of solvent was a useful property . they had invented a synthetic rubber which they christened thiokol . 2 1945 charles bartley working for the nascent jet propulsion laboratory discovers the use of thiokol as a stabilizer in solid fuel rockets . 3 1948 elkton maryland plant opened producing solid rocket motors . 4 1949 thiokol produce the tx 18 falcon missile the world s first solid fueled missile system . 1957 in anticipation of the forthcoming minuteman contract the company builds its plant at brigham city utah . 1957 thiokol huntsville builds xm33 pollux missile 1958 merger with reaction motors inc. rmi makers of liquid propellant rocket motor systems . 1958 thiokol awarded contract to build the tu 122 rocket motor for the first stage of the lgm 30 minuteman icbm system . 1959 thiokol huntsville produces castor strap on booster rocket used on the atlas rocket . 1964 woodbine georgia plant is constructed to build solid propellant motors for nasa but the agency changes course and uses liquid fuel . 5 1969 thiokol awarded u.s. army contract to manufacture 750 000 tripflares for use in the vietnam war . 5 1971 explosion in magnesium flare assembly facility at woodbine plant kills 29 and injures 50 . 5 1974 thiokol wins the contract to build the solid rocket booster srb for the space shuttle nov 29 1973 1975 thiokol succeeds sperry rand as operator of the large louisiana army ammunition plant near minden louisiana 1978 the company sells its ski lift division to ctec and its snow equipment division to logan manufacturing company lmc owned by john delorean . 1980 acquires carlisle chemical company of cincinnati ohio . 1982 thiokol merges with morton norwich products owners of the morton salt concern the simoniz automotive products brand and various chemical concerns . the merged company is called morton thiokol incorporated mti . 1986 an o ring fault in an mti srb destroys space shuttle challenger in flight . the company is found at fault for the destruction of challenger and deaths of the astronauts . see space shuttle challenger disaster . a trident ii d 5 fbm launches and fires its thiokol solid rocket first stage . 1989 morton thiokol splits with most of the chemical concern going with morton . the propulsion systems division becomes thiokol inc. 1998 thiokol changes name to cordant technologies . 1998 thiokol branded polymer products purchased by polyspec l.p. a houston based manufacturer of industrial coatings marine decking and subsea insulation products . 2000 thiokol merges with two divisions of alcoa and with howmet castings and huck fasteners to become aic group alcoa industrial components . 2001 alliant techsystems atk inc. a company formed when honeywell spun off its defense division spends 2.9 billion buying thiokol and related businesses from aic alcoa . atk built the third stage of the trident missile and had earlier bought hercules aerospace co. builder of the second stage . with the purchase of thiokol who make the missile s first stage atk controls the lion s share of the us solid rocket fuel market . 2005 thiokol wins the contract to produce the ares i launch vehicle first stage for nasa s project constellation . 6 2006 alliant techsystems atk inc. renamed atk thiokol to atk launch systems group . 2014 orbital atk is formed . it was formed from the merger of orbital sciences corporation and parts of alliant techsystems . products edit thiokol gas generators were used in the airbags on mars pathfinder . the top photo shows a complete airbag assembly under test the bottom shows the three titanium thiokol gas generators used to inflate the airbags . products made by the aerospace divisions of rmi and thiokol include motors used in subroc the pershing missile the peacekeeper missile poseidon missile minuteman missile and the trident i and trident ii missiles . thiokol produces powerplants for numerous u.s. military missile systems including aim 9 sidewinder agm 88 harm agm 65 maverick agm 69 sram and air 2 genie . thiokol also produced a variety of liquid and solid rocket motors for the us space program including deorbit motors for the mercury and gemini programs rocket stages and separation rocket motors for the apollo program motors for the pioneer surveyor viking voyager and magellan missions updated castor boosters for the delta rocket and the space shuttle solid rocket booster . reaction motors powerplants propelled the x 1 and x 15 aircraft and later thiokol technologies were also used in the private tier one manned spaceplane . on march 1 2006 nasa announced that thiokol will be the prime contractor for the new crew launch vehicle clv to be known as the ares i which will put the orion spacecraft formerly known as the crew exploration vehicle into low earth orbit along with the five segment srbs for the heavy lift cargo launch vehicle calv known as the ares v. in addition to ski lifts thiokol produced a range of equipment for ski resorts including snowcats and snow grooming vehicles . these businesses were spun off in 1978 when the company restructured itself to concentrate on its rocket products and related technologies . john z. delorean purchased the thiokol snowcat operation and renamed it dmc . dmc continued to manufacture snowcats until 1988 when the company was renamed lmc . lmc continued making snowcats for 12 more years but ceased operations in 2000 . thiokol produced snow vehicles with a wide range of capabilities and duties . the company also produced several utility based vehicles based on their snowcat tracked vehicle in addition to larger snow grooming machines suitable for use on steep ski slopes . thiokol machines were used in ski resorts operated by the usaf in alaska and other northern regions and are now popular with private owners as dependable snowcats and for all terrain transport . amphibious thiokol swamp spryte all terrain vehicle thiokol pioneered the short burn rocket motors used in aircraft ejection seats . the company also produced a number of the earliest practical airbag systems building the high speed sodium azide exothermic gas generators used to inflate the bags . thiokol bags were first used in u.s. military aircraft before being adapted to space exploration mars pathfinder bounced down on mars on thiokol airbags and automotive airbags . thiokol s generators form the core of more than 60 % of airbags sold worldwide . see also edit antarctic snow cruiser logan machine company sno cat snow coach snowcat snow grooming bombardier recreational products references edit edwards douglas c. 2001 . chap . 5 liquid rubber . in bhowmick anil k. ; stephens howard . handbook of elastomers second edition first ed . . marcel dekker inc. p. 135 . isbn 0 8247 0383 9 . retrieved 8 february 2015 . sutton edward s. 1999 . from polymers to propellants to rockets a history of thiokol . american institute of aeronautics & astronautics . p. 2 . bedard andre composite solid propellants encyclopedia astronautica 1997 baltimore sun article about thiokol elkton plant a b c kerr jessie lynn a look back huge blast in 71 obliterated woodbine chemical plant florida times union october 18 2010 atk media center december 7 2005 . nasa selects atk to be prime contractor for first stage of next generation crew launch vehicle . atk . external links edit atk launch systems group homepage history of reaction motors inc. history of thiokol photographs of thiokol snowcat and snow grooming equipment v t e alliant techsystems products aargm m242 bushmaster james webb space telescope citation needed pgk atk aerospace group general applied science laboratory swales aerospace thiokol atk sporting group bushnell corporation cci federal premium ammunition savage arms federal cartridge charles l. horn twin city ordnance plant general applied science laboratory antonio ferri gasl projectile nasa hypersonic pulse facility theodore von k rm n retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title thiokol & oldid 741310055 categories manufacturing companies based in utahcompanies established in 1929alliant techsystemsrocket engine manufacturerstracked vehiclessnowmobilesaerospace companies of the united statesbrigham city utah1929 establishments in utahhidden categories articles containing potentially dated statements from 2005all articles containing potentially dated statementsall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from june 2014 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