Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit

Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space SuitBy Bill Ayrey (University Press of Florida, 2020) What do Playtex bras and space suits from Project Apollo have in common? They were both produced by International Latex Corp. (ILC) Industries, a small Delaware industrial firm. Bill Ayrey was a space suit test engineer for ILC for over 40 years. When he joined ILC in 1977, many of the original Apollo space suit managers, engineers, technicians and seamstresses were still around. There were still parts of Apollo space suits in ILC facilities. As he worked on space shuttle EVA space suits and became ILC’s historian , Bill had full access to records from the Apollo era. In his book “Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit, “ Ayrey tells an amazing tale of how ILC came from behind as a underdog to beat David Clark Co (which produced the Gemini suits) and Hamilton Standard for the Apollo contract. Space suits are miniature spacecraft. They need to supply astronauts with oxygen, pressurization, cooling, communications, and waste removal among a myriad of other functions. The technical details could be overwhelming, but Bill explains the engineering concepts in understandable language augmented by profuse illustrations. The many photographs, diagrams and tables are invaluable for both their engineering and historical value. He also includes enjoyable anecdotes from the space suit pioneers. “Lunar Outfitters” is encyclopedic in its coverage of the history and development of the Apollo space suit. I found the appendix “Technical Details of the Apollo Space Suits” fascinating as Bill describes suit components ranging from the urine collection device to the thermal micrometeroid garment, which consisted of as many as 18 layers of materials to protect the astronauts. As an Apollo 11 buff, I was intrigued about the details of the A-7L suit used by Armstrong and Aldrin on the Moon. All astronauts had fit checks for their suits and Ayrey has a copy of the December 5, 1968 form for Armstrong’s first fit check on his serial 056 suit. The astronauts came to ILC in Dover, Delaware for these fittings. The Apollo suits evolved over time and these iterations are explained in clear language by Ayrey. He also describes the preservation of the space suits by the Smithsonian Institution and some of the issues in their conservation such a breakdown of rubber materials over time. This book is not light reading but it is well-written, well-illustrated, and an important contribution to the history of space flight. Everything you wanted to know about space suits but were “afraid” to ask. Highly recommended!

Although hundreds of books have been written about the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn launch vehicles, it seems like very few have focused entirely on the spacesuits. Having recently retired after spending 42 years at International Latex Corporation Dover, Bill Ayrey is in a unique position to tell their story. Although it's not a masterpiece, "Lunar Outfitters" is well written, compelling, and packed with lots of obscure and fascinating details.Although the main text is "only" about 300 pages long, it covers an enormous amount of ground. The first quarter focuses mainly on ILC's early forays into the pressure suit business, some of the key personalities, and their strained relationship with Hamilton Standard. The rest of the book focuses entirely on the Apollo spacesuits, including their development, testing, manufacture, main components, use, and continued improvements. The text answers a lot of questions I didn't know I needed answering (why were the glove fingertips blue, anyway? exactly how many layers did each TMG have? why did they never use that cloth cover over the gas connectors?), along with providing me with some fascinatingly useless space trivia (the EVVAs used on Apollo 11 & 12 still were bright red under the Beta cloth, Neil Armstrong had several layers of insulation removed from under his arms, and the lunar overshoes actually came in two sizes). The appendixes also provide an impressive amount of detail, including a lengthy technical description of the suit, suit serial numbers, and contract details.Structurally, "Lunar Outfitters" is similar to Roger Bilstein's "Stages to Saturn," although this one is definitely warmer and more human in tone. Along with all the technical and manufacturing details, we get plenty of personal stories from the former ILC employees who designed and assembled the suits, which have been interwoven (get it?) into the drier bits to liven things up. It's a fascinating reminder that much of the Apollo hardware was actually manufactured by hand, and as tedious and stressful as it may have been, everyone took an extraordinary amount of pride in their work.It's rather unfortunate, then, as thorough as the rest of the book is, that almost nothing is written about the elements of the suit that weren't directly designed or manufactured by ILC, particularly the PLSS, OPS, and RCU. Although I understand that these subjects might have been out of Mr. Avery's area of expertise, it felt like reading a book about the Saturn V which never mentioned the IU. The A-7LB suit and the post-Apollo 14 missions are also somewhat skimmed over, leading me to believe that parts had to be edited to keep the page count down.If its scope was expanded beyond the sphere of International Latex, I'd have definitely given this book five stars. As it is, my final rating is closer to 4 1/4 stars. Hopefully, there'll be an expanded edition in the future.

As a former space shuttle seamstress. I was fascinated with all the "behind the scenes" stories of the creation of the "most famous spacecraft in the world," -the Apollo spacesuits! I looked at the book with a technical eye, as I know the exact precision that is required for any article that is exposed to the rigors of space! "Lunar Outfitters" is a gem of a book! Readers -both novice and technical in thought, will find that out how with the most unlikely of circumstances and "common", yet, passionate, engineers and my beloved spacesuit seamstresses- who I call my fellow "Sew Sisters", could work together and create the most highly recognized and wondrous article in space history! I heartily recommend the this wonderful and informative historical book!

A very well written book on the development of the Apollo spacesuits. These miracles of modern engineering were fashioned by a small team at ILC Industries of Dover, Del., until then a firm better known for making girdles and brassieres. It was a tremendously complicated, highly technical endeavor accomplished working under a major deadline -- JFK's ultimatum to get a man on the moon by 1970. Written by ILC historian Bill Ayrey, the book tells the story in a conversational tone that's easy to understand for the layman, but which the engineer still will find most informative and fascinating. This is the best of the books about the Apollo suit that lluminates an until-now hidden corner of the Apollo story.