Gallery: Peek Inside ILC Dover, the Company That Makes NASA's Space Suits
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Model Andrew Taylor waits to put on an Extravehicular Mobility Unit for testing. “He looked like an astronaut straight out of central casting, but really he was just a local dude who answered an ad in the paper to test suits \[and\] does this part time for fun,” says photographer Christopher Leaman.
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Taylor steps up into the top half of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit.
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Taylor adjusts his headgear.
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Bill Ayrey, quality systems lab manager at ILC Dover, helps Taylor put on a glove.
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Ayrey helps strap a ceiling winch to the suit, which weighs more than 300 pounds.
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Ayrey stabilizes Taylor in the suit.
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Taylor steps on to a testing apparatus.
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Testing the durability of the gloves.
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A flight suit on display at ILC Dover's testing laboratory
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Hoses and a flight suit on display at ILC Dover's testing laboratory
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At left, A custom made glove rests on a table; at right, A worker sews a glove by hand.
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At left, a machine that tests the tensile strength of the thread used in each suit; at right, a magnifying glass used to test materials sits in the lab.
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Testing equipment at ILC Dover
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Each glove is custom made for each astronaut's left and right hand. Engineers take molds of the hands and print 3D models, which they use to create the gloves' bladders and liners.
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A poster hangs in the glove production room.
