Homer Reihm
President ILC
Vice President
Chief program engineer
Program manager
Homer Reihm is retired President and CEO of ILC Dover. He was responsible for the
development of the spacesuit chosen by NASA for the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969.
ILC has been the sole provider for NASA Apollo, Sky Lab, and Space Shuttle spacesuits, and
currently employs over 400 people in Delaware. NASA Astronauts aboard the lnternational
Space Station today are wearing ILC suits made right here in Dover Delaware.
Born in 1938, Homer Reihm grew up on a small farm outside Middletown, Delaware. He
became a star football athlete at Middletown High School and earned his engineering degree
from the University of Delaware. Upon graduation, he went to work in 1960 for the
lnternational Latex Corporation (lLC). At first, NASA had been experimenting with hard metal
suits to be made by a different company, but Homer persisted with his idea of a more flexible
fabric spacesuit with movable joints. To show that his spacesuit would be so flexible, and
that astronauts could play football in it, the prototype suit was featured in a punt, pass, and
kick video and sent to NASA. ILC was then selected by NASA as the sole suit manufacturer
for the Apollo Lunar Suit Program. ln 1966 he was promoted to Chief Project Engineer, then
in 1969, he became Program Manager, responsible for the entire ILC program.
After the Apollo 1 fire, Homer directed design and material changes to make the suit
nonflammable, resulting in the A7-L suit for the Apollo 7 mission. More changes were made
for the Apollo 8 Circumlunar mission. Then yet more changes were made for Apollo 11. The
arms were redesigned to add back elbow mobility convolutes and a new lower profile upper
arm bearing. ln the Apollo era, 2 orbital, 14 lunar surface and 3 trans-lunar EVA
(extravehicular activity) spacewalks, all totaling 170 EVA hours, were completed without a
single in-flight suit failure.
He became VP in 1 975, and President of ILC in 1 975, until his retirement in 2001 . Post
Apollo, Homer had a vision for ILC that was not dependent on any one contract or customer.
It remained government based, but with diverse products and multiple customers. They won
the shuttle suit contract and also began to develop other products. These include tethered
balloons and aerostats, protective masks and pharmaceutical products. ILC also designed
and manufactured a unique all-encompassing airbag system to safely deliver the Sojourner,
spirit and opportunity Rovers to the surface of Mars. As a result of 40 years of Homer's
vision and persistence ILC is still a prosperous innovative company today.
