In the general aerospace industry, primary structural loads are generally those affecting flight, pressurization, or ground handling capability1.
In the case of the Common Berthing Mechanism, a product-specific definition applied2:
“That part of a flight vehicle or element which sustains the significant applied loads and provides main load paths for distributing reactions of applied loads. Also the main structure which is required to sustain the significant applied loads, including pressure and thermal loads, and which if it fails creates a catastrophic hazard.”
Catastrophic hazard was explicitly defined by the same source:
“Any hazard which may cause permanent disabling or fatal personnel injury of loss of one of the following: the launch or servicing vehicle, SSMB, or major ground facility”.
Footnotes- FAA Advisory Circular 23-13A, 7.b[↩]
- See International Space Station PG-3 (1998), S683-29902B “Active Common Berthing Mechanism Prime Item Development Specification”, CAGE 3A768 under Contract NAS15-10000, Section 6.3[↩]