ILC Dover Aerospace & Defense Solutions

This Veterans Day, we pause to honor the generations of Americans who have served our country for more than 250 years. Their commitment and courage inspire us all. Today, we're spotlighting Travis Bettinger, a Contract Manager at ILC Dover who served 20 years in the U.S. Army. Travis enlisted after college and served with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, deploying to Mosul, Iraq, in October 2004 for a year in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His unit later relocated to Germany, where Travis was selected for Officer Candidate School and commissioned as an Armor Officer in March 2008. He completed the Armor Officer Basic Course and Ranger School before serving as Executive Officer of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 81st Armor Regiment. He later served with the 1st Battalion, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), as a Platoon Leader and Executive Officer, completing a year-long deployment to Afghanistan. Promoted to Captain, he commanded a company at the Armor School, then led Delta Company, 1-26 Infantry, in the 101st Airborne Division before being selected for the Army Acquisition Corps and transitioning to the contracting career field. He deployed to Iraq from Fort Drum in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, supported Operation Warp Speed at Army Contracting Command-Rock Island, and supported the chemical munitions demilitarization mission at Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky before retiring from active duty in July 2023 after 20 years of honorable service. At ILC Dover, Travis serves as the primary point of contact for customer contracting officers and leads contract administration from proposal through closeout. He guides bid strategy and regulatory compliance, negotiates pricing and terms, manages subcontract requirements, and works closely with Legal and Finance to keep every agreement on track. Thank you, Travis, and thank you to every veteran on our team for your service. #VeteransDay

Happy 251st Birthday to the Marine Corps. For 251 years, the Marine Corps has embodied courage and honor in the face of adversity. Thank you for your unwavering dedication and sacrifice in defense of our nation, from the volcanic sands of Iwo Jima to Afghanistan.

The Great Pumpkin never showed up at Ellington Field, but Astro™ did. 🎃 Our team spent Halloween dressed up, just not in costume! We took our next-generation spacesuit, Astro™ EVA, trick-or-treating at the Wings Over Houston Airshow, where we showcased its advanced mobility and modular sizing system. Thanks to @HoustonAirshow and everyone who came out to see Astro™ in action.

Congratulations to NASA and the International Space Station team on completing the 100th spacewalk conducted from the ISS’s Quest Joint Airlock without a Space Shuttle present! ILC Dover is proud to have supported the teams behind these milestones. During this spacewalk, NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk exited the ISS’s Quest airlock to install and deploy a roll-out solar array (IROSA) on the 2A power channel. Proud to have been part of all 100 spacewalks and the work that continues to advance human spaceflight.

The final two are here! We’re finishing with the first all-woman spacewalk at #2 and Apollo 11 at #1. #2: The First All-Woman Spacewalk (Expedition 61, 2019) Christina Koch and Jessica Meir conducted the first all-woman spacewalk outside the ISS on Oct. 18, 2019. During the 7-hour, 17-minute outing, they replaced a failed battery charge-discharge unit, which regulates the charge to the station’s batteries. Both wore Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs) with ILC Dover soft components for the repair. #1: The First Moonwalk (Apollo 11, 1969) On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin began the first moonwalk. The EVA lasted 2 hours, 31 minutes. We designed and built their A7L suits for NASA, then supplied the suits for every Apollo lunar landing. Today, ILC Dover’s record spans more than 3,000 hours of spacewalks without a single failure. Thanks for counting down with us!

Four to go! Our next stops are Apollo 17’s moonwalks at #4 and the first untethered spacewalk at #3. #4: The Final Apollo Moonwalks (Apollo 17, 1972) In December 1972, Harrison Schmitt and Gene Cernan explored the Taurus-Littrow valley over three moonwalks totaling about 22 hours. Schmitt was the first geologist to reach the Moon and remains the only one to have walked on its surface. Their ILC Dover A7LB suits were designed with greater mobility for lunar exploration, giving the astronauts more freedom to move as they worked. #3: The First Untethered Spacewalk (STS-41B, 1984) On Feb. 7, 1984, Bruce McCandless flew about 320 feet from Challenger with no tether connecting him to the shuttle. His Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) used nitrogen gas thrusters to control his movement. McCandless wore the MMU over a shuttle Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) with soft components built by ILC Dover. The suit maintained his pressurized environment while the backpack let him maneuver independently.

We’re halfway through! #6 is Suni Williams’ spacewalking record, followed by the first ISS assembly spacewalk at #5. #6: The Most Spacewalk Time by a Woman (Expedition 72, 2025) By the end of her ninth outing on Jan. 30, 2025, Suni Williams had logged 62 hours, 6 minutes of spacewalk time, surpassing Peggy Whitson’s record for the most by a woman. On all nine spacewalks, Williams wore an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) built around an ILC Dover Pressure Garment Assembly, the pressurized suit that protects astronauts from the vacuum of space. #5: The First ISS Assembly Spacewalk (STS-88, 1998) Before astronauts could switch on Unity, someone had to connect the cables. Jerry Ross and Jim Newman made those connections on Dec. 7, 1998. Working from Endeavour, they linked power and data cables between Unity, the first U.S.-built module, and the Russian-built Zarya. Electricity from Zarya’s solar arrays could then reach Unity, and the crew inside Endeavour could activate the module. For that first ISS assembly spacewalk, Ross and Newman wore EMUs with a Pressure Garment Assembly designed and manufactured by ILC Dover.

Next up, #8 and #7: a repair that helped save Skylab and Dr. Bernard Harris Jr.’s historic spacewalk outside Discovery. #8: The First Successful Repair Spacewalk (Skylab 2, 1973) Skylab needed repairs almost as soon as it reached orbit. Debris from its damaged shield had jammed a solar array wing, leaving America’s first space station short on power. On June 7, 1973, Joe Kerwin cut the restraining strap with a tool on a 25-foot pole. He and Pete Conrad then used a rope to pull the wing open, restoring power for research. Their suits were modified versions of the Apollo A7LB, built by ILC Dover for work aboard Skylab. #7: The First African American Spacewalker (STS-63, 1995) On Feb. 9, 1995, Harris became the first African American to walk in space. He and Michael Foale spent more than four hours outside Discovery in Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs). Their mission also included the first shuttle rendezvous with Russia’s Mir station, bringing the two spacecraft close together ahead of later docking missions.

Kicking off the countdown! At #10 and #9, we have a satellite rescue and the longest spacewalk of the shuttle era. #10: The Only Three-Person Spacewalk (STS-49, 1992) Two attempts to capture the stranded Intelsat VI F-3 satellite had failed. On May 13, 1992, Pierre Thuot, Rick Hieb, and Tom Akers went outside together to stabilize it and attach a capture bar. They then fitted a new rocket motor to help the satellite reach its intended orbit. #9: The Longest Shuttle-Era Spacewalk (STS-102, 2001) The shuttle program’s longest spacewalk lasted 8 hours, 56 minutes. Jim Voss and Susan Helms set that record on March 11, 2001, while moving equipment and preparing the ISS for continued assembly. All five astronauts wore Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs). The pressure garment assembly (PGS) of the EMU was designed and delivered by ILC Dover. The PGS is the as-worn part of the EMU that maintains suit pressure while allowing astronauts to bend and reach.

U.S. spacewalk 100 is coming up at the International Space Station. To mark the occasion, we’re counting down 10 spacewalk milestones! ILC Dover spacesuits and softgoods protected the astronauts during all 10. Our record spans more than 3,000 hours of spacewalks with no failures Follow along as we count down to number 1.

From Apollo to Artemis, ILC Dover has shaped the future of human spaceflight. Our spacesuits have supported more than 3,000 hours of spacewalks, 250 missions, and six Moon landings — all without a single failure. Today, we’re engineering next-generation systems for long-duration lunar and deep-space missions, ensuring a sustained human presence beyond Earth.

CBRN threats no longer follow the Cold War playbook. State and non-state actors are using chemical and biological capabilities in new ways, and the softgoods that protect the warfighter have to keep pace. For decades, ILC Dover has engineered CBRN protection in service with U.S. and allied forces, from barrier garments and powered respirators to filtration systems and decontamination equipment. Our work spans the full protective chain, from an individual soldier's gloves to collective-protection shelters and patient isolation systems for medical evacuation. Built to protect lives when failure is not an option.

Persistent surveillance depends on platforms that stay on station around the clock, in environments where conventional aircraft struggle. ILC Dover envelopes are at the core of lighter-than-air systems fielded worldwide for ISR, missile defense, and border security. Tethered, these aerostats carry radar and sensor payloads to over 15,000 feet and provide continuous wide-area coverage, at a carbon footprint 75 to 90 percent lower than a manned or unmanned aircraft flying the same mission. We build the envelope, the lighter-than-air hull at the core of the system, and deliver it to the integrator who completes the platform. These envelopes have flown on DARPA high-altitude programs and at CBP aerostat sites along the southern border, and they are trusted by defense partners worldwide.

The gear pilots hope they never need is the gear that has to be built best. ILC Dover manufactures the chemical-biological mask worn by F-35 pilots in emergency situations. It sits ready across the full flight envelope and activates when everything else has gone wrong. From the runway to flight altitude, in a compromised environment, there is no margin for error and no second chance. That is the standard we build to.

Manufacturing takes teamwork, precision, and a willingness to get hands-on. For #NationalManufacturingDay, we’re highlighting our ILC Dover team in Frederica as they flip an aerostat to inspect the other side, showcasing the hands-on expertise that goes into building and maintaining complex aerospace systems. It’s work that happens behind the scenes, but every detail matters when the technology is built for demanding environments.

Early warning and uninterrupted communications depend on protected equipment that does not compromise the signal it carries. ILC Dover's softgoods radomes are built to do both. They withstand wind, ice, salt, and blowing sand while remaining radio-frequency transparent, so the signal passes through without interference, a trade-off that rigid enclosures often cannot manage. It is a softgoods challenge as much as a radar one. Whether a site is forward and temporary or fixed and permanent, our radomes help maintain detection range and keep satellite links operational in conditions that would degrade an unprotected system.

You may know us for suiting up every NASA astronaut since Apollo. For more than 75 years, that same softgoods engineering has supported the warfighter on the ground, at sea, and in the air. The materials science and manufacturing behind a spacesuit also go into radomes, surveillance aerostats, and CBRN protective equipment for U.S. and allied forces. Each is engineered for environments where the hardware has to keep functioning under sustained stress. It is a discipline we have been refining for decades.

ILC Dover equips defense and security forces with mission-critical softgoods that perform across land, sea, air, and space. From high-altitude aerostats and inflatable radomes to recovery and containment systems, our solutions deliver persistent coverage, seamless integration, and unmatched reliability. Trusted by the DoD, DHS, and global partners, built for readiness, resilience, and real-world performance.