EXCHANGE: A man remembers having worked on Neal Armstrong's spacesuit

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. (AP) – An electrical engineer working for NASA's nascent space program, Bob Davidson began his job three months ago in 1962 when he learned that his project had been abandoned. Instead, he would have the chance to work on a new venture with a division of Playtex.

"Playtex – The company of the bra and the belt?" asked a dubious Davidson. "And they said:" Yes. "

And that's how Davidson, 76, now living in Rolling Meadows, met the friend of Apollo 11 astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, when designing the wetsuits. revolutionary space that these men wore for their first steps on the moon on July 20, 1969. These are not combinations of improved flight. They were more like a unique spacecraft.

"We had to build them to withstand 220 degrees below zero and 280 degrees above zero," says Davidson, sitting in his living room and going through the 17 layers of a piece of fabric used in the living room. Outer envelope of these costumes. made to resist anything the moon could throw at them. While some materials were similar to those found in fire-resistant suits worn by racing drivers and coats worn by mountaineers, the space suits also included new materials such as "aluminized mylar" and coated silica fibers. of "Beta Teflon cloth". "

Designed to protect against "micrometeoroid bombardment" of points that pass through space and could puncture most materials, the layers of the suit include a "tear-resistant tape" and patterns with holes that would prevent a tiny perforation to become a major tear.

The suits needed not only to keep astronauts alive, but also to allow men to move under the pressure of 14 pounds of air per square inch. Each combination had to be perfectly adjusted. They took 180 measurements on astronauts' bodies and built bevels and swivels for each joint.

"The hardest thing to do was fingers in the gloves," says Davidson, pointing out the need for astronauts to pick up objects and adjust controls. "The gloves were incredibly complex."

Davidson and a team of 20 engineers also equipped the space suits with a communication system that allows Armstrong and Aldrin to chat with each other, exchange with another astronaut Michael Collins, orbiting the moon, and interact with communication centers Millions of people watched and heard their broadcast from the moon's surface.

"And we have trouble getting a good signal on our cell phones here," says Barbara, wife of Davidson, former air hostess of Pan-Am World Airways. Married for 51 years, the Davidson have two grown children, Tim and Chrysteen, and a granddaughter.

During the historic day, while welcoming another engineer and his wife to their apartment in Ogletown, Delaware, Bob Davidson watched the moon land with confidence. "We knew that if we could do it here, it would be great on the moon, which has a sixth of gravity," he says.

The space suits were up to the performance of Armstrong and Aldrin, who were the ideal team for this mission, says Davidson, who met the two astronauts. Engineers could spend 10 consecutive days working directly with the astronauts and not seeing them for a month. They went to the restaurant together and socialized.

"They were as different as day and night," says Davidson about the enigmatic Armstrong and the outgoing Aldrin. "Buzz was on" Dancing with the Stars, "and you could not even get Neil into the audience."

Aldrin was a fighter pilot during the Korean War. He received a Distinguished Service Cross before earning a Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Armstrong, whose aerospace engineering studies at Purdue University were interrupted by the Korean War, completed 78 combat missions before completing his studies and obtaining a master's degree at the University of Toronto. 39, University of Southern California. Armstrong was a talented pilot who developed high-speed aircraft, such as the X-15, that reached 4,000 mph.

"We used to drink together," Davidson said of Aldrin. "Neil also liked a cocktail."

Armstrong reserved was a man of few words. "No's a fight with Neil," says Davidson. "I would say 'Yes, but …' and he would say 'No' & # 39;

"His main asset, if you wanted to have a good conversation, was the stock market," recalls Davidson, who said Armstrong liked to share his investment strategy. "I could not lock him up for three hours."

Armstrong has generally let his actions speak for him.

"He was the man of choice – he was cool under fire and smart as a whip," said Davidson, adding that even when landing on the Moon, Armstrong had to turn off the computer. and put the module manually, its fuel almost exhausted.

Spacesuits were tested in a 32-story water tower, in the desert and in an airplane called "the comet to vomit" which rose and plunged to offer moments of weightlessness. With so much material and testing, Davidson went to facilities in Texas, California, New York, Alabama, Florida, Arizona and Dover, Delaware. He also brought the complaint during public relations visits to schools and civic organizations across the country. While traveling with a large blue box bearing the inscription "Critical Space Flight Object", Davidson had flown first class and was the last passenger on the plane and the first to have left.

"I was earning $ 17,000 a year and I realized I was earning 22 cents an hour," Davidson said. He left NASA in 1972 to work in the technical sales sector with several companies before founding his own control systems company called Enternet in Naperville. At NASA, Davidson also worked on Apollo 9 and the memorable Apollo 13, which featured an explosion and miraculous return to Earth that was turned into a film starring Tom Hanks.

The new film on Armstrong, "First Man", captures Armstrong's courage, courage, intelligence and freshness under pressure and shows the sacrifices made to make the promise of putting a man on the moon, says Davidson.

"We are human and we knew the odds were against us, but we also knew it was feasible," said Davidson, proud of his contribution. "The only two things that have managed to come back from the moon are the man and the spacesuit on his back."

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Source: (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald, https://bit.ly/2OziucP

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Information from: Daily Herald, http://www.dailyherald.com

This is an AP-Illinois Exchange story offered by the (Herland Heights) Daily Herald.