NASA and Cicoil celebrate 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Space Mission

On July 20, NASA and the world will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Historic Moon Landing. In addition, Cicoil, the inventor of the Bio-Harnesses worn by the Apollo 11 Astronauts will be celebrating this golden anniversary with great pride as well.

On that famous July 20 day in 1969, the Cicoil Bio-Medical harnesses made history by being an integral part of the historic Apollo 11 First Moon Landing. The Intravehicular Harnesses were worn by Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on board the Columbia Command Module during the Lunar orbit and the “Eagle” Lunar Module that landed on the Moon’s Surface.

The Cicoil Extravehicular Bio-Medical Harness was worn by Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong as he took his historic “First Small Step for Man, and One Giant Leap for Mankind,” and was also worn by Eagle Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin as he took the famous “2nd Walk.”

The Cicoil assembly successfully enabled continuous monitoring of all vital signs for each Apollo 11 Astronaut during flight, orbit, Moon Walk operations and reentry back to Earth. The flawless operational performance of Cicoil’s Bio-medical Instrumentation and Telemetry Harness designs were, in NASA’s words, “Vital to the successful achievement” of these history-making flights.

Cicoil’s 26 in. long, zero gravity “Bio-Harnesses” were worn underneath the Intra-Vehicular Constant Wear Garments for all three Astronauts while inside the Apollo 11 Spacecraft, and under the extra-vehicular (EV) pressure suit during the Moonwalk activities of Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin. The Cicoil assembly enabled continuous monitoring of the vital signs, such as blood pressure, respiration, body temperature and pulse rate for each astronaut during flight, orbit, spacewalk and the “First Step” Moon Landing operations.

Cicoil’s Space Flight approved Biomedical Instrumentation Harnesses were chosen over other design options for their unique ability to separately encase shielded signal pairs to eliminate electronic interference; provide uninterrupted signal integrity during the harsh rigors of Space Flight; exceptional performance when exposed to temperature extremes (–65° to 260°C); resistance to UV Light, radiation and vibration; high efficiency in dissipating heat between inner cable components; highly flexible and lightweight materials; and high reliability in mission critical applications.

Cicoil’s Biomedical Harness was the only tested harness design which met IVA (Intravehicular Activity) and EVA (Extravehicular Activity) needs during all phases of the Apollo Space Mission. The flawless operational performance of Cicoil’s Bio-Harness designs were, in NASA’s words, “Vital to the successful achievement” of these history-making flights.

According to Cicoil President & CEO Howard Lind, “Cicoil is very proud to have played such a pivotal role in history, as the supplier of the mission-critical biomedical harness worn for the Moon Landing in 1969. It’s very special to everyone at Cicoil that NASA selected our flat cables 50 years ago, but even more special to have been part of Neil Armstrong’s famous ‘First Step for Man, and Giant Leap for Mankind.”

In addition to helping NASA put a Man on the Moon, Cicoil’s Flat Biomedical Harnesses were also “there” for Alan Shepherd to become the first American to travel in Space – 1961, to help Astronaut John Glenn (Mercury-Atlas 6 – 1962) to become the first American to orbit the Earth, and for Edward White (Gemini 4 – 1965) to be the First American to walk in Space.

In addition to every Apollo Space Flight, Cicoil has manufactured Space Flight Approved cable assemblies for the Mercury and Gemini Space missions, Skylab, Mercury Voyager, The Space Shuttle; and today are utilized on Space Transport Rockets, Probes, Satellites and The International Space Station.

For an Out of This World Experience, be sure to check out the Cicoil Bio-Harnesses worn on the Apollo 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15 and 17 missions at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.

Cicoil 
www.cicoil.com