ILC Dover

ILC Dover (formerly ILC Industries) is a Dover, Delaware-based corporation located in nearby Frederica, Delaware. Approximately ten-percent of the workforce is stationed at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Most of the company's work is done under contract to NASA and the United States Department of Defense.

The company is famous for making the spacesuits for Project Apollo in the 1960s and 1970s, in which 45 astronauts wore its so-called "A7L" and "A7L-B" model suits without experiencing any significant failure. After the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975, ILC Dover teamed up with the Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation to produce the Space Shuttle two-piece, self-contained extravehicular mobility unit (EMU), in which a derivative of the unit is still being used by astronauts onboard the International Space Station.

History

At its inception in 1947, ILC Dover manufactured bras and girdles while it was a division of Playtex, at that time known as "International Latex". After its sale by Playtex in the 1950s, ILC Dover moved to the manufacture of pressurized suits for aircraft test pilots.

As early as 1955, the company began designing spacesuits. In the early 1960s, when NASA announced it was looking for a "Block II" Apollo spacesuit to be worn for launch, landing, and extra-vehicular activity (EVA), Hamilton Sundstrand(then Hamilton Standard), contracted ILC to fabricate the joints for the new suit. Because of problems expierienced by ILC employees with the fabrication of the joints, Hamilton United dropped ILC, but NASA, facing lawsuits from ILC for breach of contract, allowed the company to enter their version of the Apollo spacesuit into the competition. After a one week test trial, in which spacesuit from Hamilton United, ILC, and the David Clark Company were compared, NASA chose the ILC suit and gave the company the prime contract to produce over 30 suits for the upcoming Apollo missions. The first manned flight, Apollo 7 in 1968, was also the first flight of the company's "A7L" spacesuit.

When NASA shut down the space program in the 1970s, ILC Dover almost went out of business, dropping from a staff of 1000 to 25, before entering the field of unmanned airship manufacture. Since their entry into this market, the company has manufactured most of the large (>50,000 cubic feet) airship envelopes for vehicles such as blimps which are presently in use in the United States. In the 1980s, ILC Dover returned to the manufacture of spacesuits, this time for the Space Shuttle program. Also in the 1980s, the company expanded their product line to include gas masks. Presently, ILC Dover is the largest supplier of gas masks to the United States Army. Later, the company began manufacture of isolation bags for hazardous pharmaceutical compounds which would otherwise require workers to wear protective suits and masks to handle and transport.

ILC is currently designing a new model of spacesuit, the "I-Suit", for use in future manned missions to the moon and Mars.

Apollo spacesuits

Main article: Apollo/Skylab A7L

The suits worn by the astronauts on the 11 manned Apollo flights, the three manned Skylab flights, and Apollo-Soyuz, were identical in fabrication. Each suit, called a "pressure garment assembly", was a five-layer suit made from rubber-coated nylon, and alternating layers of nylon and nomex, a fire-resistant fabric. Depending upon the individual mission, and each crew member's job, the suits were different from basic appearance, and function. From Apollo 7 to Apollo 14, the command module pilot's suit had a three-layer fireproof "cover layer" consisting of spuned teflon-coated fiberglass, called "beta cloth", over layers of mylar and nomex. His suit had three connectors, two for environmental and life support, and one for communications. This was the same suit worn on Apollo-Soyuz, but by all three astronauts, as they did not conduct any EVAs during the flight.

The commander and lunar module pilot had a cover layer made up of 12 additional layers, alternating of both mylar and kaptan fabric, with a beta cloth outer layer for fire protection, and an inner layer of nylon for abrasion protection. These astronauts also had boots made of a silicone rubber compound with uppers made of "Chromel-R", a woven steel that provided abrasion protection while on the moon's surface. The EVA gloves were also made of the same material. The suit, in addition to the three main connectors, also had three addition connectors, six altogether, that allowed the hookup of the EVA backpack (built by Hamilton Standard), providing emergency oxygen and liquid water cooling, provided by a Liquid Cooling Garment.

For Apollos 15 through 17, the commander and LM pilot wore a modified "A7L-B" suit, which had improved waist joints, and better abrasion protection (as the crew performed three EVAs during each mission), while the CM pilot wore a five-connector version of the "A7L" suit--the liquid water cooling connector being omitted, as the CM pilot, during the trip back to Earth, wore a life-support umbilical, providing both oxygen for breathing and air conditioning. The "A7L-B" suit was also worn by all three Skylab crews, but with an umbilical assembly similar to that worn on the Gemini flights.

Other spaceflight-related products

• ILC manufactured the air bags which were deployed for final braking by the Mars landers Spirit and Opportunity

References

• Durantine, Peter (May 5, 2006). "This suit was made for walkin'...". The News Journal. pp. E4–E5.