BIDDEFORD — After reading to second graders at Horace Mitchell Primary School in Kittery and then touring York Hospital’s surgical center, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins visited a defense contractor in Biddeford on Tuesday.

During her stop at Fiber Materials, Inc. the senator learned about the company, toured the facilities and met with employees. The company, which employs 170 people, manufactures products for both commercial businesses and the military.

Company President Spencer Tolis told Collins about some of the products the company makes for the military and for NASA’s space program. He also described how Congress, and the senator, could help this local small business.

Having Collins’ support could prove helpful for FMI because she sits on the Senate’s Appropriation Committee, the Armed Services Committee and the Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee.

FMI manufactures carbon/carbon composites and other composite material. These materials, which can withstand extreme temperatures, are used to build, among other things, missile nosetips, heat shields and rocket motor components. It was the missile nosetip “that put Fiber Materials on the map,” said Tolis.

One of the components the company has made for the country’s space program includes a heat shield for NASA’s Stardust Mission that spent seven years in space and now sits at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

FMI has also built rocket motors that can be used in case of a rocket failure to propel and separate the manned shuttle from a rocket. In addition, the company has designed a heat shield to protect the next rover vehicle for a planned trip to Mars.

For its work in the space field, FMI received the 2010 NASA Small Business Industry Award.

But the Obama administration’s plan to replace the Constellation program with a new approach while replacing the shuttle program with a commercial partnership, as well as mixed signals from Congress, has put many of NASA’s plans on hold.

Collins said she and some of her colleagues are skeptical about the president’s proposal.

FMI is also being affected by Congress’ failure to pass a 2011 budget, which has reduced military spending.

Collins told the assembled group she is concerned about the government’s failure to act on a budget and the effect of this on the country’s Defense Department.

Earlier this month, in a joint letter with Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, Collins asked the Senate leadership to pass a Defense Appropriations bill to fund the troops in Afghanistan, finance pay raises and tuition assistance for military personnel and support military programs to procure needed equipment upgrades and additional big ticket items for the country’s defense.

This has not been done.

Collins also toured FMI’s facilities, where she learned about some of their processes and met with employees.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.