A typical product designed for the government or for commercial use Is the result of the cooperative effort of many companies. Some of the more complex products have been assembled from parts supplied by several thousand firms. Prime contractors normally build the major elements of the product in their own plants. They subcontract to other firms for the many parts and systems that are needed. Subcontractors may supply an item as small as a bolt or as large as a turbojet engine.
Prime contractors are corporations that take on the total responsibility for a given project.
Subcontractors are assigned by the prime contractor for a certain portion of the project. Thousands confer on total systems for a spacecraft such as Titan, for Instance. Nothing Is left to chance. Space Industries, near Houston, Texas, is designing the space station's free-flying platform using only 35 people. The companies whose names are synonymous with big-time space are General Dynamics, Hughes, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Martin Marietta, IBM, and Rockwell.