ORIGINAL NASA DEVICE USED ON SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION FOR FIRING SOLID BOOSTER ROCKETS

This device went into space on an actual NASA Space Shuttle mission. It was used to initiate firing of the Shuttle’s Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The technical name for this is the Confined Detonating Fuse (CDF) Manifold with Exploding Bridgewire (EBW).  The unit is 8 inches long and 1 ½ inches in diameter, with two 8-foot lengths of braided tubing. It is labeled with the following info:    CDF MANIFOLD 55340/10312-002-801  MFR: 17610/51077-151 MFR DATE MO 7 YR 97  LOT-SER-NO. ABA-2003165    17610 indicates the unit was made by Universal Propulsion Company. There are several other labels. According to NASA documents, the Confined Detonating Fuse (CDF) Manifold is a critical component during both launch and recovery. For example: “As the SRB freefalls to an altitude of approximately 16,000 feet, barometric switches send fire commands to the separation Pyrotechnic Initiator Controller (PIC) which initiates a NASA Standard Detonator (NSD). The output of the detonator is propagated t