Tulsa's Rockwell International plant played an important part in space shuttle's development

Tulsa played a role in the building of the space shuttle Columbia. Actually, all "five" space shuttles. <br><br>Tulsa's Rockwell International plant produced the cargo bay doors for the shuttles.

Monday, February 3rd 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa played a role in the building of the space shuttle Columbia. Actually, all "five" space shuttles.

Tulsa's Rockwell International plant produced the cargo bay doors for the shuttles. A former Rockwell spokesperson, Dave Blankenship, says you don't often think of the shuttle this way, but he says it's really the world's most advanced delivery truck. In that sense, the doors are probably the "most" important part.

He says the Tulsa employees took great pride in their work, and in fact, part of them went with the shuttle. "We allowed the employees to sign the doors, for them to go into space, and that was a real key thing."

The cargo-bay doors are by far the biggest Tulsa contribution, but dozens of Tulsa companies produced smaller parts for the orbiter.