[ad_1]
An electrical engineer working on NASA's nascent space program, Bob Davidson entered his job in three months in 1962 when it was announced 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 so is Davidson, who is now 76 years old, retired and lives at Rolling Meadows, met the friend of Apollo 11 astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, at the the design of the revolutionary space suits that these men wore for their first steps on the moon on July 20, 1969..
These were not improved flight combinations. 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 the material used in the outer cover of made-up costumes. to resist anything the moon could throw at them. While some materials were similar to those found in fire-resistant suits worn by race car pilots and climbers' coats, space suits also included new materials such as "aluminized mylar" and coated silica fibers. of "Beta Teflon cloth". "
While the first astronauts wore improved flight suits, the first men on the moon needed combinations that could withstand 500 degrees of temperature variation, limit the damage caused by small meteors while remaining flexible. Former NASA engineer Bob Davidson of Rolling Meadows presents some of the innovative layers that have made these space suits work.
– Brian Hill | Staff Photographer
Designed to protect against "micrometeor bombardment" by the points that pass through space and could puncture most materials, the layers of the suit included an "anti-tear tape" and patterns with holes that would prevent a tiny perforation to become a major tear.
The suits needed not only to keep the 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 interact, interact with another astronaut Michael Collins in orbit around the moon and interact with communication centers. back on Earth, followed by 500 million people. and heard their diffusion from the surface of the moon.
A stiff and uncomfortable Buzz Aldrin tries out a first version of the Apollo 11 scuba gear while Bob Davidson, left, talks with the astronaut with his helmet. After seven years of design and modifications, the space suits worked perfectly on the moon.
– Photo provided by Bob Davidson
"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 have Neil in the audience."
Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin signed this photo for Bob Davidson of Rolling Meadows, who helped design the space suits worn on the moon.
– courtesy of Bob Davidson
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," says Davidson about Aldin. "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'"
"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."
A model of the Apollo 11 lunar module is a memory Bob Davidson, an engineer at Rolling Meadows, dedicated to his decade at NASA, where he helped design space clothing that astronauts wore when the man set foot for the first time on the moon.
– Brian Hill | Staff Photographer
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 visited facilities in Texas, California, New York, Alabama, Florida, Arizona and Dover, Delaware. While traveling with a big blue box marked "Critical Space Flight Object", Davidson flew first class and was the last passenger on the plane and the first to have left.
Holding a metal piece mounted on the moon, Bob Davidson of Rolling Meadows has many memories of his years with NASA. Davidson met astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin and helped design the space suits that they wore until the moon.
– Constable Burt | Staff Photographer
"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 included an explosion and a miraculous return to Earth 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."
[ad_2]
Source link
