Latrobe Specialty Steel announced that Pittsburgh area native and veteran astronaut Mr Mike Fincke examined the processes and quality control systems at Latrobe Specialty Steel.

He explained to the LSS employees that the lives of the NASA astronauts depend on the cleanliness of the vacuum re melted steel LSS makes for manned space vehicles both past and future.

Mr Fincke, during a tour of Latrobe Specialty Steel Corporation, said that "I want to walk on the moon. I got to see the people who make the rockets that put us in space. It's really nice to think that a little piece of home is up there."

NASA announced that Mr Fincke, an Air Force colonel who joined the space agency in 1996, has been assigned to the crew of a space shuttle mission scheduled for July 29th 2010 or September 16th 2010. That is the last scheduled mission of the space shuttle program.

Mr Daniel Hennessy VP of manufacturing for Latrobe Specialty Steel said that it has been providing steel for the aerospace industry for about 50 years, and about 30 years for the space shuttle program. The company has shipped more than 12 million pounds of steel, the equivalent of 6,000 tons, for the nation's space program.

Mr George Torres a spokesman for ATK Corporation said that Latrobe Specialty Steel's products are used for the metal casing that forms the shuttle's two solid fuel rocket boosters and in the engine nozzles at the bottom of the boosters.

(Sourced from www.pittsburghlive.com)