As part our Yuri's Day festivities, Bill Ayrey will discuss the history of the extravehicular spacesuits with a focus on the Apollo era suits as well as the space shuttle and space station suits. He will also talk about the future of spacesuit designs for the next generation space station suit and what the next Lunar or Martian suits might look like.
Stick around for the follow up Q+A in collaboration with Nick Patrick, engineer, astronaut and pilot.
Lecture:
- Saturday, April 8, 2023
- 1:00 PM to 1:45 PM (NEW TIME)
- Location: William M. Allen Theater
Q+A:
- 2:45 PM to 3:30 PM
- Location: William M. Allen Theater
FREE with Museum admission.
Bill Ayrey retired from ILC Dover in 2019 after 45 years of employment and still works part time in support of the current and next generation spacesuits manufactured by ILC Dover. While at ILC, Bill was responsible for the testing of the materials and the finished spacesuits made by the company for NASA’s use on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. He has a total of over 150 hours of pressurized time in the current spacesuit design while it was in various stages of testing. In addition, Bill represented the company as their Historian and published a book titled Lunar Outfitters, Making the Apollo Space Suit that chronicles the challenges the company overcame in designing and manufacturing the suits that allowed 12 Apollo astronauts to walk on the moon.
