Fifty years ago on July 16, 1969 NASA launched Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission. The massive 363-foot tall Saturn V rocket launched the spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center, utilizing Hydra-Electric switches to transport astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin on an unprecedented, history-making mission.
Our products were used as part of the fuel and pneumatic systems, as well as part of the “chicken switches” (devices that allow an astronaut to eject the capsule in which he or she rides in the event that a rocket malfunctions).
In 1961, Hydra-Electric had developed switches for the Atlas launch vehicle, part of NASA’s Mercury project for human spaceflight in which John Glenn was the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the earth. The 1969 Apollo 11 launch is part of Hydra-Electric’s proud heritage as an aerospace pioneer contributing to the growth of our nation’s aerospace industry, and continuing today to innovate breakthrough solutions in switch and sensor technology.