Pioneer Aerospace Corporation is one of the largest aerodynamic deceleration manufacturers in the world. [1] Since 1938, the company has designed and manufactured parachutes and parafoils for use by the military, leisure use and numerous NASA missions. Pioneer's main factory and distribution centers are located in Columbia, Mississippi [2] and Bloomfield, Connecticut. [3]
The Pioneer Parachute Company was formed in 1938, by Connecticut silk manufacturers Cheney Mills. [4] James Floyd Smith, inventor of the modern parachute, was one of the founders of the new company. [5]
Pioneer partnered with DuPont to use the recently developed Nylon as an alternative to silk, and experimented with chute properties and optimised packing over the next 4 years. In June 1942, Adeline Grey was the first person to successfully test the human-rated parachute. This led to Pioneer becoming the world's leading manufacturer of parachutes, producing 300 per day at the height of WWII.
A Canadian subsidiary The Pioneer Parachute Company of Canada Ltd operated in Smiths Falls, Ontario. Canada from 1954 until 1962.
After the war, the company started to develop applications for the growing aerospace sector. In 1962, Pioneer bought the rights to the newly invented "Parasail", and tested this as a landing method for the Gemini spacecraft. [6]
Pioneer subsequently produced chutes for many NASA spaceflight programmes, including Mercury, Gemini, [7] the Galileo probe, the Space Shuttle, the Mars Pathfinder missions, the Genesis solar-sample mission, the Stardust Comet Intercept Probe, and the Mars Exploration Rovers. [8]
In 1999, Pioneer manufactured, at the time, the world's largest parafoil (7,500 square ft.) for the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle, an emergency return capsule for the crew of the International Space Station. [9]
In 2020, it was revealed that Pioneer manufactured the drogue parachutes for SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. [10]
The company was subsequently renamed Pioneer Aerodynamic Systems and Pioneer Systems, and by 1988 was known as Pioneer Aerospace [11]
In 1988, Pioneer become a part of Zodiac's Aerosafety Systems Group. [12] On December 1, 2018 Safran acquired Zodiac Aerospace as Safran Aerosystems. [13]
In June 2022, Aviation Safety Resource acquired Pioneer from Safran. [14] [15]
On November 1, 2023, Pioneer Aerospace Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [16] A week later, the company filed a purchase agreement for SpaceX to buy all assets of Pioneer, including intellectual property relating to drogue chutes, and specifically those produced for SpaceX under contract. [17] On November 22, 2023, the $2.2 million acquisition by SpaceX was approved by the bankruptcy court. [18]
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who can exit from an aircraft at height and descend safely to earth.
An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry.
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and various supplier companies, the company was immediately the country's largest aviation firm and built more than 142,000 aircraft engines for the U.S. military during World War II.
The X-38 was an experimental re-entry vehicle designed by NASA to research a possible emergency crew return vehicle (CRV) for the International Space Station (ISS). The 1995–2002 program also developed concepts for a crew return vehicle design that could be modified for other uses, such as a possible joint U.S. and international human spacecraft that could be launched on the French Ariane 5 booster.
A drogue parachute, also called drag chute, is a parachute designed for deployment from a rapidly moving object. It can be used for various purposes, such as to decrease speed, to provide control and stability, as a pilot parachute to deploy a larger parachute or a combination of these. Vehicles that have used drogue parachutes include multistage parachutes, aircraft, and spacecraft recovery systems.
A powered parachute, often abbreviated PPC, and also called a motorized parachute or paraplane, is a type of aircraft that consists of a parafoil with a motor and wheels.
The Martin X-23A PRIME (SV-5D) was a small lifting-body re-entry vehicle tested by the United States Air Force in the mid-1960s. Unlike ASSET, primarily used for structural and heating research, the X-23A PRIME was developed to study the effects of maneuvering during re-entry of Earth's atmosphere, including cross-range maneuvers up to 617 nmi from the ballistic track.
The ballute is a parachute-like braking device optimized for use at high altitudes and supersonic velocities.
The Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company is a manufacturer of hardware and energetic systems for use in spacecraft, military, and industrial applications. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ensign-Bickford Industries.
Safran S.A. is a French multinational aerospace and defense corporation that designs, develops and manufactures aircraft engines, helicopter engines, spacecraft propulsion systems as well as various other aerospace and military equipment. The company arose in 2005 through a merger between SNECMA and defense electronics specialist SAGEM. Safran's acquisition of Zodiac Aerospace in 2018 significantly expanded its aeronautical activities.
Zodiac Aerospace was a French aerospace group founded in 1896 that supplied systems and equipment for aircraft. In October 2018, it was acquired by French aerospace and defense company Safran. At the time of acquisition, it was one of the oldest aerospace groups known to exist.
Collins Aerospace is an American technology company that is one of the world's largest suppliers of aerospace and defense products. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, it is a subsidiary of RTX Corporation.
XCOR Aerospace was an American private spaceflight and rocket engine development company based at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, Midland International Air and Spaceport in Midland, Texas and the Amsterdam area, the Netherlands. XCOR was formed in 1999 by former members of the Rotary Rocket rocket engine development team, and ceased operations in 2017.
The Kistler K-1 was a two-stage, fully reusable launch vehicle design created by Kistler Aerospace. It was to accommodate a wide range of missions, including payload delivery to low Earth orbit (LEO), payload delivery to high-energy orbits with a K-1 Active Dispenser, technology demonstration flights, microgravity missions, and commercial cargo resupply, recovery, and reboost services for the International Space Station (ISS).
IrvinGQ, formerly known as Airborne Systems, is an aerospace manufacturing company based in Llangeinor, Wales, United Kingdom. It specialises in the design, manufacture and supply of a range of parachutes and emergency, rescue and survival equipment for both the military and civilian markets.
Zodiac Nautic is a French company known for their inflatable boats.
The Space Rider is a planned uncrewed orbital lifting body spaceplane aiming to provide the European Space Agency (ESA) with affordable and routine access to space. Contracts for construction of the vehicle and ground infrastructure were signed in December 2020. Its maiden flight is currently scheduled for the third quarter of 2025.
WIRES is a Japanese project developing a winged single-stage reusable suborbital rocket as a test bed for a reusable orbital launch system or a crewed suborbital spaceplane. The full-size prototype, called WIRES-X, is expected to be launched in 2020.
RTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon Technologies Corporation, is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitalization, as well as one of the largest providers of intelligence services. In 2023, the company's seat in Forbes Global 2000 was 79. RTX manufactures aircraft engines, avionics, aerostructures, cybersecurity solutions, guided missiles, air defense systems, satellites, and drones. The company is also a large military contractor, getting a significant portion of its revenue from the U.S. government.
Adeline Gray, married names Johnson and Graf, was an early American parachutist. She is thought to have been one of the only female parachutists in the United States before the 1940s. Gray received her parachuting license at the age of 19 and afterwards appeared as part of a stunt parachuting team in barnstorming shows. She was also a licensed pilot by 21. Gray later worked as a parachute rigger and tester for DuPont and on June 6, 1942, became the first person to jump with a nylon parachute. Gray became moderately famous for this and appeared in advertisements for Camel cigarettes.