manufacturing techniques. With such techniques, the rolled stock would be formed into beams and girders and welded to form the mechanical structure, which is to be used in the subsequent assembly process. A space “factory” - designed to serve as the production facility for succeeding SSPS — would be used for these purposes. Such a space-based manufacturing operation would permit assembly rates of about 400 Ib/hr, allowing the most effective use to be made of the high-lift capability of the space transportation system, and thus greatly reducing the number of orbital flights. The potential of manufacturing in space has already been recognized and experiments in the Skylab mission provided important data on which future and more complex space manufacturing processes can be based.
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