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 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.
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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 |
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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 |
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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
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IFAI member companies contribute specialty fabrics and fibers to the aerospace industry...
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For example, the Kuraray company's airbags (pictured left) made with Vectran™ fiber successfully cushioned the Mars Pathfinder, Spirit, and Opportunity landings on the surface of Mars.
This high-strength fiber is a multifilament polyester-polyarylate yarn spun from liquid crystal polymer (LCP). It offers exceptional flex fatigue resistance, providing superior load-handling characteristics for tow ropes, cargo tie-downs and inflatables. |
And they produce Spinoffs...
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Using a remarkable fabric originally developed to protect Apollo astronauts, Birdair Inc., of Amherst, New York, has crafted highly durable, safe, environmentally friendly, and architecturally stunning tensile membrane roofs for over 900 landmark structures around the world.
Travelers in airports, sports fans at stadiums, and shoppers in malls have all experienced the benefits of the Teflon-coated fiberglass fabric that has enabled Birdair to grow from a small company established in its founder's kitchen in 1955 to a multimillion-dollar specialty contractor today. Read more... | |