APOLLO SPACE S UIT 1962–1974 Frederica, Delaware A HISTORIC MECHANICAL ENGINEERING LANDMARK SEPTEMBER 20, 2013 DelMarVa Subsection Histor y of the Apollo Space Suit This model would be used on Apollo 7 through Apollo 14 including the first lunar mission of Neil Armstrong and Buzz International Latex Corporation (ILC) was founded in Aldrin on Apollo 11. Further design improvements were made to Dover, Delaware in 1937 by Abram Nathanial Spanel. Mr. Spanel improve mobility for astronauts on Apollo 15 through 17 who was an inventor who became proficient at dipping latex material needed to sit in the lunar rovers and perform more advanced to form bathing caps and other commercial products. He became mobility exercises on the lunar surface. This suit was known as famous for ladies apparel made under the brand name of Playtex the model A7LB. A slightly modified ILC Apollo suit would also go that today is known worldwide. Throughout WWII, Spanel drove on to support the Skylab program and finally the American-Soyuz the development and manufacture of military rubberized products Test Program (ASTP) which concluded in 1975. During the entire to help our troops. In 1947, Spanel used the small group known time the Apollo suit was produced, manufacturing was performed as the Metals Division to develop military products including at both the ILC plant on Pear Street in Dover, Delaware, as well as several popular pressure helmets for the U.S. Air Force. the ILC facility in Frederica, Delaware. In 1975, the Dover facility Based upon the success of the pressure helmets, the Metals was closed and all operations were moved to the Frederica plant. Division, which became known as the Specialty Products Division The Apollo suits were used on eleven missions from 1968 until in 1955, began designing and manufacturing pressure suits when 1972 (see History Log) resulting in 158 combined hours on the they were awarded a contract to supply a prototype suit for the lunar surface. There was never a mission that had to be cut short X-15 program. This suit was identified as the model XMC-2-ILC or cancelled due to a problem with the Apollo space suits. They suit. That suit was not selected to support the X-15 program but it would go on to be the basis of iconic image of man on the moon did possess excellent mobility when pressurized. This mobility was in photos of Buzz Aldrin and the eleven others who traversed the possible because of the advanced latex-dipped joints. Seeing how lunar surface. good the mobility was, the Air Force continued to award small development contracts to ILC to further evolve this suit for other The displayed landmark Apollo suit at the ILC Dover company possible uses. At the same time, there was a general agreement museum is the Model A7L, serial number 036, delivered to NASA within ILC that a manned space program was on the horizon and in September, 1968. It was manufactured as a primary flight suit that the ILC suit stood a good chance of beating any competition. for Astronaut Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin as a member of the Apollo 8 As fortune would have it, NASA requested that bids for the Apollo backup crew. Aldrin then used it as his primary training suit for Lunar suits be submitted by December 1, 1961. This was for the the Apollo 11 mission where it played a critical role in helping engineering design, development and construction of the pressure him develop skills for lunar exploration. The same model suit suits to support the lunar missions. These would be the first was used on Apollo 11, the first successful lunar mission, during autonomous extra-vehicular activity (or EVA) space suits used on which both Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were the first humans to set an extra-terrestrial surface. Eight companies including ILC foot on the moon. This suit was later returned to ILC Dover by submitted proposals. In March, 1962, ILC was selected as the NASA so that it could be modified as a training suit to support winner of the competition with the model AX1L suit that was a Astronaut William Pogue for the Skylab Mission he flew in direct outgrowth of the XMC-2-ILC suit. November 1973. Since NASA was developing all of the Apollo systems including the capsule and the Lunar Module at the same time that the ILC Apollo suits were being developed, the suit design and performance requirements became a moving target. Following several variations of suit designs between 1962 and 1965, the nearly final version began to appear in the model A5L suit. By 1968, ILC produced the final lunar version, the model A7L suit. APOLLO SPACE SUIT INTERNATIONAL LATEX CORPORATION 1 Eng ineering place to go so that the wearer is not compressing the air and as a result, unnecessarily expending muscle energy. The solution came Significance with the convoluted, latex-dipped joints that maintained a near constant-volume enclosure around all of the flexible body joints. For the Apollo astronauts who ventured into space Thus, when the suit was pressurized at 3.8 lb/in² (26 kPa) the outside of their pressurized capsules and Lunar Modules, the suit provided excellent mobility. Steel cables along both sides of hazards were severe. They included a hard vacuum, exposure to the convolutes as well as other key locations about the suit cosmic and solar radiation, possible impacts by micrometeoroid restrained the growth when under pressure and provided added particles traveling at high velocities and a range of surface security when astronauts were adding mechanical loads such as temperatures between +/- 300 °F (+/-150 °C). At the same time, pulling and pushing on tools or bounding about on the lunar these protective systems had to provide an excellent fit while surface. permitting as much freedom of mobility as possible so all mission plans could be carried out safely and successfully. One of the more significant challenges was to keep the profile of the pressurized suit as compact as possible so that the three astronauts could comfortably operate side-by-side in the tight Command Module. That meant that the suits served a dual- purpose: both as an intravehicular activity (IVA) suit as well as an Suit Operation extravehicular activity (EVA) suit. Although the Command and The Apollo space suits provided all of the necessities and Lunar Modules were pressurized during all phases of flight, if a life support required for autonomous operations on the problem occurred during critical stages and pressure was lost, the lunar surface. Some of the main features included: suits would keep the astronauts alive and possibly allow a safe • Pure oxygen airflow at the continuous rate of 6 ft³/min landing on Earth. They were designed to be used as a constant- (170 LPM) wear pressure garment for up to 120 hours should all pressure be lost onboard the Command Module on its trip to the moon and • Suit pressurization at 3.8 lb/in² (26 kPa) (absolute pressure) back. This required feed ports in the helmet and a pass-through fitting for urine management. Other mission requirements • A continuous flow of cooling water provided to the liquid included interfacing the suit systems with the space vehicles. cooling garment The Apollo space suit consisted of three major components as • Radio communications back to Earth as well as signal outlined in the Apollo Space Suit U.S. patent number 3,751,727, telemetry containing heart rates and suit conditions filed in August 1968. They include: In addition to the time these suits spent on the lunar surface, they 1. The inner comfort liner were also used by several astronauts who stepped outside of the Command Module into deep space as they ventured between the 2. An intermediate pressure garment assembly providing a earth and the moon so that they could retrieve science packages controlled atmosphere within the garment without and film cartridges that were placed outside the vehicle. excessively inhibiting astronaut mobility Every part of the Apollo space suits served an important purpose. 3. The outer insulating and protective layer referred to as the The following sections highlight the most significant components. thermal micrometeoroid garment (TMG) that contained several layers of aluminized Mylar® and spacer fabrics to reflect radiation as well as reduce thermal conductivity. This was encapsulated by the outer-most Beta Cloth cover-layer that provided fire protection Arguably, one of the most important challenges was to provide an encapsulating, pressurizable garment that permitted as close to a full range of body-joint motion as in the nude condition. When an elbow or knee bends, the fabric cylinder containing the pressurized gas surrounding the joint has to allow that gas some 2 APOLLO SPACE SUIT INTERNATIONAL LATEX CORPORATION the pressure closure and maintained structural integrity and Torso-limb Suit assured that the pressure closure was never structurally loaded. Assembly A tether attachment bracket was provided on each side of the waist where tethers from the floor of the Lunar Module would be The overall sketch of the pressure restraint garment with attached to secure the astronauts when standing inside the Lunar the outer cover-layers removed for clarity of the details is shown Module during the decent and assent. No seats were provided in below. This was also referred to as the Torso-Limb Suit Assembly order to keep weight to a minimum. During the periods of zero- or TLSA. It is a one-piece garment with all components integrated. gravity on descent and ascent and because of the possibility of a The gloves and helmet were removable. The externally worn lunar rough landing, the tether would secure them in place at all times.