Clay Anderson Visits Royal
Royal Plastic Mfg., Inc. was honored to welcome NASA Astronaut and Nebraska native Clayton Anderson to Minden on March 4th, 2008. After appearing at two local schools and meeting with Minden youth and educators, Anderson shared his space exploration experiences with the employees of Royal. “I hope my story will encourage children to do whatever they want to do. Just because you come from a small town don’t let that hinder you in any way. I am a perfect example of a kid who came from a town of 1,800 people and with a lot of hard work, a little help, and good luck along the way you can do whatever you want to do. You just have to go after it with passion and effort,” stated Anderson.
Anderson was assigned as Expedition 15 flight engineer and lived and worked aboard the International Space Station for 5 months. He launched to the station on June 8, 2007 aboard Shuttle Atlantis with the crew of STS-117, and returned to earth aboard Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-120 in early November 2007. During his presentation for the employees of Royal, Anderson showed a slide show depicting life aboard the International Space Shuttle. From taking out the trash and sleeping to brushing his teeth, Anderson illustrated how everyday tasks take a little more effort in zero gravity. He also showed photos of earth taken from space. One photo was of Lincoln, NE on a Saturday. He pointed out Memorial Stadium filled with red.
After Anderson’s presentation, he toured the facility and was shown how many of the supporting parts of the space shuttle were made. “These astronauts are really the cream of American engineers/ pilots. It’s really an honor to have him in the plant talking to us,” said Phillip Gill, President of Royal Plastic Mfg., Inc. Many of the composite and fiberglass parts Royal makes are destined for the aerospace industry and NASA in particular. One such part is the Environment Control Ducting (ECD) used on the space shuttle during lift off. The ECD supplies cooling air to the electronics while the shuttle is on the ground prior to lift off. Just before launch, the ECD hoses are disconnected and pulled away from the shuttle. Royal Plastic Mfg., Inc. has been making the ECD for NASA for over 15 years. “It’s important for our people to meet our customers and Clayton is the ultimate in customers. Meeting customers puts a face with the products and we do better when we deal with people rather than corporations. Brent will think of Clayton when he’s making those hoses and he’ll make the right decisions,” said Gill.
