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Sold by ILC, the company with the exclusive contract to design and manufacture the suits worn by astronauts in the Apollo program, including the twelve that walked on the moon. ILC has also designed and manufactured all space suits for NASA since the Apollo project.

Description from Nate Sanders: “Prototype helmet stowage bag (HSB, photos below) and lunar extravehicular visor assembly (LEVA) commissioned by NASA in 1972 in preparation for Apollo 16.

LEVA helmets and HSB cases were used in Apollo missions when the command module pilot embarked on his extravehicular activity. Prototype HSB construction features a dome of white nylon sewn onto a metal base. Base features hardware designed to anchor the HSB to the lunar module cabin floor in a weightless environment.

A plastic liner cradles the bottom of the transparent acrylic LEVA. Helmet prototype features a full visor attached with metal hinges. Measures 13.5” in height not counting the handle, and 14” in diameter overall. Very minor staining to stowage bag, else near fine.

A fascinating pair of pieces from space history with provenance including a printed NASA ”Spacecraft Parts” tag from the Manned Spacecraft Center with the words “Mock Up” and a document from NASA’s exclusive Apollo spacesuit manufacturer ILC Industries, Inc., dated 18 February 1972 and signed by ILC and NASA personnel.”

From Wikipedia: “A Stand-up EVA (SEVA) is when an astronaut does not fully leave a spacecraft, but is completely reliant on the spacesuit for environmental support. Its name derives from the astronaut “standing up” in the open hatch, usually to record or assist a spacewalking astronaut.”

For Apollo 16, this would have been on the trip back to Earth, with Lunar Module Pilot Charlie Duke standing up in the Command Module Hatch as Ken Mattingly retrieved a film and data recording canister from the service module.

From Astronautix: “The Lunar Extravehicular Visor Assembly (LEVA) or Skylab Extravehicular Visor Assembly (SEVA) included a shell assembly that fit over the helmet, and that clamped around its base. The inner protective visor was transparent, although it included an inner coating that retained heat being emitted from the face. The protective visor was used without the sun visor during operations in shadow areas where visibility through the dark sun visor would not be adequate. The visors and eyeshades were adjustable and could be moved to positions selected by the crewman for his comfort and safety.”

From NASA’s Space Suit Extravehicular Hazards Protection Development: “The lunar extravehicular visor assembly (LEVA) provided visual, thermal, and impact protection to the astronaut’s helmet and head. The LEVA was composed of an outer protective shell that housed two visors. The outer visor, or sun visor, was made of high temperature resistant polysulfone plastic and coated on the inside surface with a thin film layer of vacuum-deposited gold. The second visor, or protective visor was made of ultraviolet-stabilized polycarbonate plastic. The outer visor filtered visible light and rejected a significant amount of ultraviolet and infrared rays. The protective visor filtered ultraviolet rays, rejected infrared rays, and in combination with the sun visor and pressure helmet formed an effective thermal barrier. The two visors in combination with the pressure helmet protected the astronaut from micrometeoroid damage and damage that could result from a fall on the lunar surface.”

From my research in historical NASA and NASM documents, it might have also been a Skylab SEVA prototype (details 2nd comment below).

Part of the Future Ventures’ 🚀 Space Collection.

3 responses to “Apollo 16 EVA Helmet Prototype from ILC”

  1. in the bag HSB or "SEVA Stowage Bag" zips on a slight diagonal around its base and features a handle sewn to the top. Inside the case, a matching white nylon bag is built into the center and in the final apparatus would serve as stowage for the EVA gloves: The woven back headrest of this helmet looks very similar to the back of my A7L helmet, and there is a "16" bottom left: Associated document with NAS 9-6100, the contract code for the Apollo Space Suits. Every signature dated 2-18-72. It references an interface evaluation for the SEVA and SEVA Stowage Bag, full sizeThis article from March, 1975 gives a sense of how excess material from the Apollo space program ended up in private hands: “Officials at the ILC Corp. are expecting an invasion of space fans Saturday for a unique space age rummage sale. The company was the exclusive space suit contractor for the Apollo moon suits. Bubble-type helmets will also be on sale. ‘I’ve been getting calls and letters all week. We may have thousands — literally — show up,’ said a somewhat worried Robert Craig, the plant materials manager who has temporarily been put in charge of the sale. ILC officials say the items, once worth millions of dollars in research and development, are things which the company considered too valuable to throw away”

  2. While that may all be accurate, I found boxes of material donated by ILC to the Smithsonian in 2016, and the curators there refer to the SEVA as the "Skylab Extravehicular Visor Assembly" here It sure looks similar, in this NASA JSC final report APPLICATION OF EVA GUIDELINES AND DESIGN CRITERIA“The extreme brightness, and the ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR)rays existing in the space environment, require the use of a protective visor during EVA. The visor assembly is worn over the basic helmet protective shell and contains sufficient visor and "blinder" inserts for adequate protection during orbital EVA. The visor and blinder inserts are adjusted by the EVA crewman as required at the various worksites.” (p.6-19.)

    I should test if it fits over my Apollo bubble helmetApollo Bubble HelmetFor the Skylab program, NASA chose to modify the A7LB suit used on Apollo 15 through 17. In addition to modifications to the suit itself, the Skylab A7LB did not use the portable life support system (PLSS) backpack used in Project Apollo, but instead used a tethered system and a number of unique accessories:
    And a flight photo with Owen Garriott, Skylab 3 science pilot, performing an extravehicular activity at the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) of the Skylab space station cluster in Earth orbit, like a boss:

  3. I recognized the Skylab EVA in this painting by David Palmer at a Los Altos art fair

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