2009 Annual Report

- Dupont's media program highlights safety 
   and protective products

- To charge your iPod, plug in your jeans

- Safety and protective clothing uses

- Invisibility cloaks and how to use them

   Smart / e-textiles / protective clothing on the 
   Gadget Show - Some of the smartest clothing and fabrics   around, including the Flame 5 jacket, the Eleksen   Interactive Pouch and the Ribcap.

Apollo 13 Celebrates
40th Anniversary

Forty years ago Apollo 13 launched from Florida on a planned trip to the moon. Fifty-five hours into the flight, however, the astronauts on board, John ("Jack") Swigert, Jim Lovell, and Fred Haise, radioed back to Mission Control in Houston that they had had a problem.

A NASA ground control team led a dramatic four-day rescue effort which brought the astronauts back to Earth. This incredible real-life rescue was turned into a Hollywood film of the same name in 1995, starring Tom Hanks as Captain Jim Lovell.

The Apollo program was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth. Six of the missions (Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) achieved this goal. Apollos 7 and 9 were Earth orbiting missions to test the Command and Lunar Modules, and did not return lunar data.

Apollos 8 and 10 tested various components while orbiting the Moon, and returned photography of the lunar surface. Apollo 13 did not land on the Moon due to a malfunction, but also returned photographs.

The six missions that landed on the Moon returned a wealth of scientific data and almost 400 kilograms of lunar samples. Experiments included soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.

Specialty Fabrics Spinoffs
NASA Features Apollo Program Advanced Textiles

With the success of the Apollo space program NASA delivered great progress in the fields of rocketry and aeronautics, as well as the fields of civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering. 

Lesser known accomplishments are some of the many spinoffs that came from the Apollo program—partnerships created between NASA and industry to commercialize the technologies developed for the historic missions to the Moon.

Cooling Suits Provide Comfort Cool suits, which kept Apollo astronauts comfortable during moon walks, are today worn by race car drivers, nuclear reactor technicians, shipyard workers, people with multiple sclerosis and children with a congenital disorder known as hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, which restricts the body’s ability to cool itself. Read More

Flame-Resistant Textiles Safeguard Firefighters, Soldiers After a fire on the Apollo launch pad which resulted in the death of three astronauts, NASA worked with private industry to develop a line of fire-resistant textiles for use in space suits and vehicles. These materials are now used in numerous firefighting, military, motor sports, and other applications. Read More

Green Buildings Employ Space Suit Textiles The same fabric used in Apollo-era space suits has been spun off into a cost-effective, environmentally-friendly building material. Used on structures around the world, the Teflon-coated fiberglass strands create a permanent, tent-like roof. Less expensive than conventional roofing materials, the durable white fabric allows natural light to shine through, saving a significant amount of energy. Read More

Read NASA's article: "Spinoff from a Moon Suit."

Read about NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program

Be In Spinoff - Learn how your product or process can be a NASA Spinoff and considered for publication

IFAI member companies score with Soccer World Cup stadium contract

The Nelson Mandela Bay
Stadium is situated in Port Elizabeth on South Africa's southeast coastline.

It hosted five first-round matches, one second-round,
one quarter-final, and the
third-place playoff.

The stadium has a seating capacity of 48,000 during the Fifa World Cup 2010.

Read more about South Africa's World Cup stadiums.

   

The Gabba in Brisbane, Ayres Rock Resort and Adelaide Oval are just a few well-known Australian icons that have been kept cool by architectural membrane manufacturer, MakMax Australia. 

MakMax Australia was a major contractor in the design and build of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium for the Soccer World Cup in 2010. More...

The design was based on the principles of a suspension bridge and an arch bridge and was a joint effort between GMP Architekt/Berlin, and subcontractor and IFAI member company Bird Air Inc./Amherst, NY. More...