Wacky World of Rubber: To the moon, Mars and beyond

Every small step taken by astronauts represents the biggest of leaps for the rubber industry.

Fifty years removed from the historic Apollo 11 mission that saw humankind set foot on the lunar surface for the first time, the accomplishment becomes even more astounding. The technology of the time hardly seems capable of such a feat, but some of America's most brilliant minds made the dream a reality.

And the rubber industry was there for all of it, its products playing key roles in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.

Goodyear always has been proud of the role it has played in space exploration, having made the window frame for the Apollo 11 command module, the panel on which landing instruments were mounted, and the flotation devices that kept the capsule upright on the ocean waves when the astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins splashed down after the mission.

Today, Goodyear still is taking research and development out of this world, partnering with the International Space Station for further research of materials that could be used on missions to Mars and beyond.

In the 1960s, though, rubber played many roles in the successes of NASA's missions. And that success was hinged on quality.

Take, for instance, the astronauts' space suits. All of the materials used had to show considerable durability. Every stitch had to be perfect, every one of the 21 layers of fabric, rubber, metal and fiberglass had to be resilient amid the toughest conditions.

The astronauts' lives, after all, depended on it.

According to a report aired July 11 on NPR's Morning Edition, the materials in Armstrong's space suit needed to endure the elements and stresses of outer space, but only for a very short time.

"A lot of these materials were designed with the life expectancy of about six months," Malcolm Collum, the chief conservator for the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, said in an interview with NPR. "And after that, NASA didn't care because they knew the suit was not going to be reused again."

NASA may not have cared about the suit holding up well into 1970 and beyond, but historians do. The National Air and Space Museum has invested four years and $700,000 into preserving Armstrong's suit, which is on display now and soon will be part of a permanent display on the lunar missions.

Collum notes that the museum is not restoring any part of the suit, instead it is working to keep it from deteriorating. And while the outside of the suit has held up considerably, the inside of the suit—including many of its rubber parts—haven't fared as well.

"Like all materials, they eventually degrade, and plastics and rubbers do a little faster than other materials," Collum said.

Specifically, harmful vapors building up in the suit caused the deterioration. This meant that displaying the suit was as critical a part of the restoration process as anything else.

The team devised a special mannequin with a fresh-air delivery system that limits the harmful vapors, preserving the suit while it is on display.

Preserving and not restoring the suit also allows it to tell its own story about the journey from Earth to the moon and back again. As NPR notes in its report, the suit is still stained with dust from lunar surface. It's just a small reminder of exactly how far the rubber industry has gone.

It's also a reminder of how far we plan to go.

Humanity still is doing its best to shake the bonds of gravity and the rubber industry is part of those efforts to take exploration to new worlds.

Today, researchers at NASA's facility in Langley, Va., are turning to silicone for answers.

In May, NASA shared some details about a soft robotics project that interns Chuck Sullivan and Jack Fitzpatrick had undertaken.

The duo used 3D-printed molds to create small, pneumatic silicone robots that could be controlled by inflating and deflating sections of the robot.

"When you actuate the soft robot, it changes how you use the material properties," said Fitzpatrick. "A piece of rubber going from flat to the shape of a finger, it changes the material into something else."

How, exactly, the robots could be used on exploration missions is still being defined, but both Sullivan and Fitzpatrick believe the material has the strength and durability to make it a key part of future missions. In particular, the young researchers envision the pneumatic silicone robots being able to fit together to create durable structures that later can be disassembled and reassembled somewhere else or as something else.

Sure, it may sound like science fiction, but it's just another way the rubber industry is challenging us to reach beyond the moon.