ILC Dover

American special engineering development and manufacturing company

ILC Dover, LP is a special engineering development and manufacturing company, globally headquartered in Frederica, Delaware. ILC Dover specializes in the use of high performance flexible materials, serving the aerospace, personal protection, and pharmaceutical industries. Best known for making space suits for NASA, ILC Dover outfitted every United States astronaut in the Apollo program, including the twelve that walked on the Moon. ILC also designed and manufactured the Space Suit Assembly portion of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) developed by Collins Aerospace, worn by astronauts during performance of extra vehicular activity (EVA) on Space Shuttle missions and on the International Space Station. Other ILC Dover products include the airbag landing devices for Mars Pathfinder and Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions; lighter than air vehicles, including airships, aerostats, and zeppelins; chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) masks and hood systems; and flexible powder containment solutions for the pharmaceutical industry.

ILC Dover initially formed as a branch of the International Latex Corporation, the company founded in 1932 by Abram Spanel and later known as Playtex best known for manufacture of women's undergarments. The International Latex Corporation supported American efforts in World War II with latex products such as attack boats, life rafts, and canteens. In 1947, the International Latex Corporation split into four divisions, one of which, the Metals Division, eventually became ILC Dover. Located at that time in Dover, Delaware, ILC's earliest work was on high altitude pressure helmets and high altitude pressure suits for the U. S Navy and Air Force. In 1965, ILC (then known as the Government and Industrial Division of the International Latex Corporation) was awarded the prime contract for the Apollo Lunar Space Suit, based on its unique approach to designing flexible joints in air filled suits. ILC successfully designed and manufactured the suit worn by astronauts in the Apollo program, including Neil Armstrong during the first moonwalk. By 1969, ILC's workforce expanded to 900 employees as it supported the space program through production of Apollo space suits and a sun shield to protect Skylab, the first U. S. space station. In 1974, the Skylab program ended, and ILC faced an immediate need to diversify their product offerings. That same year, ILC delivered its first aerostat to the U. S. Air Force for use at Cudjoe Key Air Force Station. Hamilton Standard, of Windsor Locks, CT was contracted to oversee ILC's suit manufacture due to ILC's inexperience with federal government contracts. In 1977, ILC Dover, in conjunction with Hamilton Standard, began development and manufacture of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), the suit worn by astronauts during Space Shuttle and Space Station extra vehicular activity (EVA). ILC continued its support of the space program, while expanding its personal protection and lighter than air (LTA) vehicle lines. In 1994, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory contracted ILC to develop and manufacture the airbag landing system for the Mars Pathfinder mission, which successfully cushioned Pathfinder's landing on July 4, 1997. In 2003, ILC's airbag system enabled the safe landing of the twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, during the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions. In the 1990s ILC entered the pharmaceutical industry with the design and production of flexible containment systems, used to improve operator safety and ensure product purity during the manufacturing processing of potent pharmaceutical agents.

Since the beginning of the Apollo Program, ILC has been the designer and producer of the space suit pressure garment for NASA. Throughout Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle, and Space Station missions, the space suit has been required to protect astronauts from hazards faced in Earth's orbit and on the surface of the Moon. These hazards include the vacuum environment of space, temperature extremes ranging from 250 degrees Fahrenheit to 250 degrees Fahrenheit, the impact of micrometeoroids and orbital debris, and lunar dust. Above the 63,000 foot threshold, spacesuits are needed to supply oxygen and to provide a pressurized environment around the body to keep body fluids in a liquid state.

ILC began delivering spacesuits for the Apollo program in 1966. Initial deliveries of suits did not perform well in tests and NASA initially cancelled its contract with ILC and Hamilton Standard. Apollo spacesuits were custom made for each of the astronauts in the program, and for each of the twelve crewed flights carried out, ILC produced fifteen suits. Three suits were made for each of the three astronauts comprising the crew (one suit for flight, one for training, one for back up) and two suits were made for each of the three back up crew members (one suit for flight and one for training). Twenty extra vehicular activities (EVAs) were performed during the Apollo program, and ten were performed during Skylab. The Apollo suits were used for a total of 160 hours on the lunar surface.

The space suit used for EVA during Space Shuttle missions is the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), which has two parts: the space suit assembly (SSA), manufactured by ILC, and the life support system (LSS), manufactured by Hamilton Sundstrand (previously Hamilton Standard). The SSA is made of individual components which are assembled to fit each astronaut. Since the first shuttle EVA in 1983, 216 U. S. astronauts have performed a total of 74 shuttle EVAs, combining for greater than 470 hours in space. Designed and manufactured at ILC Dover's Houston facility. The Z 1 is the first suit to be successfully integrated into a suit port dock mechanism eliminating the need for an air lock; and reducing the consumable demands on long term missions.

Since the early 1970s, ILC has been designing and manufacturing softgoods structures for aerostats, airships, blimps, and other lighter than air (LTA) structures. ILC is the world's largest producer of modern aerostat and airship envelopes.

Airships and blimps are used for a variety of applications including transport and tourism; advertising; and surveillance. ILC's airship products are used by the U. S. military, the American Blimp Corporation, and Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH (Germany).

Since the early 1980s, ILC has been involved in the design and development of high altitude airships. The advent and growth of the cellular phone market renewed interest in the use of high altitude airships as an economical alternative to satellites. In the past decade, ILC has worked with Lockheed Martin to support several US government funded high altitude airship (HAA) programs to define the system for a mobile platform capable of carrying various payloads, including communications and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors.

Aerostats are typically utilized as platforms to carry surveillance radars to altitudes reaching 15,000 feet (4572 m) while tethered to the ground by a single tether. ILC has manufactured aerostats with volumes ranging from The length of these aerostats ranges from .

In the late 1970s, ILC developed a special garment, the Demilitarization Protective Ensemble (DPE), to fulfill the U. S. Army's need for an off the shelf, positive pressure, totally encapsulating suit for use by maintenance personnel at a chemical weapons site. The DPE was delivered to the Army in 1979 and is still currently in daily use, with over 700 recorded entries into a "hot" environment and a perfect safety record. From the technology used in production of the DPE, ILC developed a protective suit to be used for commercial applications. The Chemturion is a multi use, totally encapsulating protective suit, currently used by Public Health Canada, Boston University, USAMRIID and AI Signal Research, the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, and many industrial companies such as DuPont, Dow, and Georgia Pacific.

ILC designs and manufactures products that allow for flexible containment of potent pharmaceutical agents during the pharmaceutical drug manufacturing process. Such containment systems enable the safe and effective processing of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Flexible enclosure systems or specific products, such as the DoverPac, G2Pac and Continuous Liner, can be incorporated into various procedures in the manufacturing process to provide containment of potent pharmaceutical agents, protecting workers from harmful exposure and ensuring purity of the pharmaceutical agents by preventing contamination.

ILC designs and manufactures inflatable structures for use in earth orbit, lunar, and planetary exploration. Inflatable structures have been used on a number of space missions for a variety of applications including specialized flexible containment covers (Hubble Space Telescope), impact attenuation airbag systems, and inflatable aerodynamic decelerators.

ILC has developed and manufactured a variety of inflatable habitats, airlocks, and shelters for use in Earth orbit and lunar / planetary exploration. Lunar habitat projects include the X Hab Lunar Habitat, the InFlex Lunar Habitat, the Toroidal Lunar Habitat, and the Expandable Lunar Habitat. ILC has also worked on the Antarctic Habitat Planetary Analog Study, the Lawrence Livermore Inflatable Space Station, and the Minimum Function Habitat.

For decades, ILC has worked on the design and manufacture of inflatable airbag systems. ILC's most notable accomplishments are the Mars Pathfinder and Mars Exploration Rover (MER) airbags which helped land the Sojourner, Spirit, and Opportunity rovers on the surface of Mars. In addition to planetary landing systems, ILC has designed and fabricated airbag landing systems to safely return crewed and uncrewed space systems to the surface of Earth. This includes airbags for the Orion spacecraft, and the Advanced Launch System.

Other inflatable products with space applications include ballutes and decelerators; inflatable and deployable antennas; sunshields, solar sails and solar arrays; radiation shields; decoys; and planetary balloons.

ILC has produced numerous inflatable structures for military and aerospace applications. Inflatable structures are those made from high performance flexible materials, often providing weight, size, and economic advantages over structures made from traditional metal or composite materials. Products include ballutes and decelerators; floats; munition dispensing systems; UAV wings; radomes; and shelters.