The spacesuit created for NASA’s moon missions by Delaware’s ILC Dover is being recognized as one of man’s greatest engineering achievements.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is designating ILC’s model A7L spacesuit as an Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin immortalized the suit in 1969 while walking on the moon during NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. On Friday, the suit was formally inducted into the pantheon of the world’s engineering achievements at a ceremony in Frederica.
Former ILC President Homer Reihm, who helped engineer the suit says, despite its innovative design and rigorous testing, they were not completely certain the suit would work.
“There was no facility on earth that would simulate the total moon environment. So the final systems test was Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon," said Reem. "We always had that in the back of our mind: ‘is the moon going to throw a surprise at us, is there something we’ve overlooked?’ Turned out we’d accounted for it all properly.”
The iconic suit, made primarily of rubber, steel cable and fabric, features a torso assembly that integrates arms, legs and boots into a single pressurized garment. It’s designed to be flexible enough to move in while still able to regulate body heat and protect from solar radiation.
Reihm says prior to the A7L spacesuits were designed only for use inside cockpits and spacecraft.
“The engineering marvel is how we were able to use rubber, fabric, steel cable, technology to make joints that were like bellows in combination with bearings that allowed the mobility of all the joints in the suit.”
NASA continues to use similar suits made by ILC Dover for spacewalks outside the International Space Station.
