Crooked Hammock Brewery in Lewes will mark the 50th anniversary of ILC Dover, Frederica, with the release of a commemorative beer known as “One Giant Leap.”
Click here for a link to the event.
The beer’s name is a reference to ILC Dover’s spacesuits worn by Neil Armstrong and his crew when the Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969.
On Oct. 17th, Crooked Hammock will One Giant Leap, a stout brewed with “Apollo hops, chocolate malts, vanilla, and space-ice-cream sandwiches.” A limited number of commemorative glasses with the beer will be offered at the event.
In 1962, ILC and their team engineering development manufacturing company first won the contract to develop and produce the Apollo spacesuit in 1962 and since held a contract with NASA to provide all extravehicular space suits ever since
ILC Dover was the underdog in the contest to win the Apollo space suit in 1962 but won the competition against larger aerospace companies, due to its greater degree of mobility, Crooked Hammock noted.
ILC Dover manufactured about 230 spacesuits for the Apollo program. Twelve of these suits actually supported walks on the moon. Spacesuits are now on display at the Smithsonian.
ILC Dover also designed and manufactured the landing impact bags that were used by three of the rovers that landed on Mars.
