Nashua native Nancy-Lee Rodden, 35-year employee of ILC Dover, visited the Aviation Museum of N.H. on July 10, 2025
LONDONDERRY, N.H.—What does it take to make a spacesuit?
It must be fire resistant, stand up to extreme pressure and temperatures, be lightweight but also flexible. And the life of the wearer will depend on the suit’s quality.
That’s where ILC Dover comes in as a manufacturer of materials designed to withstand extreme environments—including outer space. The Delaware-based company’s expertise is used to make spacesuits, inflatable habitats, and landing bag systems.
Nancy-Lee Rodden, a native of Nashua, N.H. and a 35-year ILC Dover employee, spoke about the company’s role in space exploration on Thursday, July 10 at 7 p.m. at the Aviation Museum of N.H., 27 Navigator Road, Londonderry.
She was accompanied by a full-size replica of a current spacesuit.
Rodden is the daughter of longtime Nashua-based pilot Homer L. Grooms, who passed away earlier this year at age 92.
While the bulk of news coverage on space travel focuses on elements such as the larger-than-life spectacle of rocket launches, Grooms spoke about how much more goes into the technology that allows mankind to leave Earth’s atmosphere.
ILC Dover got its start as the International Latex Corporation back in 1947, when it was established a specialty products division.
The company’s rise to prominence as a supplier of aeronautic and aerospace equipment began in 1952, when it was contracted to produce high altitude pressure helmets for the military. ILC Dover went on to become the primary supplier of spacesuits for NASA since the dawn of the Apollo program.
In the 50 years since then, they’ve built upon their technology and expertise, continually improving spacesuits to ensure maximum efficiency, mobility, comfort, and safety for every space traveler.
ILC Dover spacesuits have been worn during 250 space flights, six moon landings and more than 3,000 hours of spacewalks without a single failure.
The company is also the lead developer in inflatable habitat systems and a manufacturer of landing bag systems. The habitat systems are critical to orbiting space stations and long-term habitation modules for the Moon and Mars.
ILC Dover’s landing bag systems are lightweight and compact impact bags, made to provide safe land and water landings for payloads and capsules with human passengers.
They’ve been designed for the historic Mars Pathfinder and Mars Explorer Rover missions and used to safely deliver rovers to Mars. They’re currently a key component of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner airbag system.
The Aviation Museum, a non-profit 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization based in the 1937 art deco passenger terminal at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, is dedicated to preserving the Granite State’s rich aviation past, and also inspiring today’s students to become the aviation and aerospace pioneers of tomorrow.
The Aviation Museum of N.H. was named “’Best Historic or Cultural Attraction for an All-Ages Family Crowd” in southern New Hampshire in the 2025 HippoPress Reader’s Poll.
A video of Grooms’ presentation will be posted at a future date in our online Video Library.
The presentation was a part of the Aviation Museum’s ‘Exploring Aviation’ lecture series.
Next up in the series: Jane Rice, author of ‘New Hampshire’s Golden Age of Aviation,’ will speak and sign copies of her book on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025 at 7 p.m. More details coming soon!
