ILC made the Apollo and Shuttle space suits. They were also the manufacturer of the envelopes for the Cyclocrane and the kite balloons so we knew each other well and I knew I didn’t want to work there but I couldn’t find anything else so I took the job on the condition that I would work on something other than balloons. With that condition met it turned out to be a very interesting job. It was so interesting that I was there six months before I even remembered that I hadn’t wanted to work there.
An Inflatable Space Station
The first assignment I got was to compile a report on the feasibility of an inflatable space station for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It turned out to be highly feasible to produce what Livermore called a “community sized spacesuits” so after that first feasibility study (for which ILC was paid $10,000) I worked with Dave Chirdon, an outstanding engineer and manager, and some of the suit designers on a proposal for a low earth orbit space station made of film, fabric, foil and webbing.
