Lynn Daily Item, by EMILY PAULS, February 3, 2023
When you think of Nahant the first thing that comes to mind is probably not outer space. But maybe it should be because a piece of Nahant is on the moon right now.
The Nahant Historical Society currently has a temporary exhibit called “From Nahant to the Moon” about Bob Steeves, who was an integral citizen of Nahant before he passed, and his family’s connection to the Apollo Space Missions.
Back in the 60s NASA contracted the company Steeves worked for as a chemical engineer, National Research Corporation (NRC) Lab to create the heat shield material needed for space missions.
Steeves was one of the masterminds behind vacuum metallization, a process still being used by NASA today. It was this process that eventually led to the creation of Kapton Foil, which were heat shields.
“It had to be something that could withstand temperatures from 450 below to 755. So he went to work with his fellow workers,” Julie Tamry, the executive director of the Nahant Historical Society, said.
That is when the vacuum metallization and subsequently Kapton Foil was born, helping make the Apollo Space Missions happen. Since its creation Kapton Foil has continued to be used on rovers and spaceships.
So what is vacuum metallization?
“Vacuum metalizing plastic is a process that allows you to create a layer of medal on a substrate (a material which provides the surface on which something is deposited or inscribed, for example the silicon wafer used to manufacture circuits), usually of another material. Also referred to as “vacuum deposition,” it involves heating the metal coating material until it vaporizes inside a vacuum chamber,” an explanation at the exhibit said.
With the “lack of pressure” in the chamber, it “drives the metal’s boiling point downward.”
“This allows the metal vapor to condensate and form a layer over the top of a substrate. The semiconductor industry uses vacuum deposition to deposit copper interconnects on silicon,” the explanations said.
DuPont Corporation currently holds the patent of this process, but Steeves created it. He eventually went on to create space blankets, also known as emergency blankets.
“Now they use them for hikers, firemen use them, they’re used after marathons,” Tarmy said. “They will protect you in extreme weather, hot or cold.”
“Steeves daughter Ellen also has her finger prints in space, literally. Her fingerprints are on the Lunar Rover which is currently on the moon.”
“She was going to college at the time, so in the summer, she worked with her dad, and that was at the time of the Apollo 17 mission, and her job was to wrap a box that contained an experiment in it for testing the density of moon rocks, and it was to be placed on the lunar rover,” Tarmy said.
Ellen wrapped the box in the Kapton Foil for 27 layers and wore gloves while doing it. But after a while, wrapping layer after layer became “cumbersome,” Ellen told Tarmy.
“So she took her gloves off,” Tarmy said. “Her fingerprints are on the moon.”
Executive Director of Nahant Historical Society Julie Tarmy uses a folded up space blanket, an invention of Nahant's Bob Stevens, to point out a photograph of female technicians insulating the heat shield of an Apollo space craft. (Libby O'Neill)
This information along with the rest of Steeves’ story was told to Tarmy by Ellen.
“She brought me some artifacts that belonged to her father, and related to the Apollo missions, so I said, ‘tell me more.’” she said.
After hearing everything, she knew she had to create an exhibit showing Steeves and his family’s influence in space. Ellen’s brothers also helped with the exhibit.
“It was a great community story with the fact that people in Nahant who knew Bob, Harriet (his wife), Ellen, would come in and see this exhibit and they’d look at me and they’d go ‘I had no idea’ I said ‘neither did I.’ That’s why I felt that had to be shared,” Tarmy said.
Not only did he accomplish what he did for space exploration, Steeves was also heavily involved in town. So was his family.
“Harriet was our town clerk okay, for many, many years … Bob was at one point the selectmen of the town, he was also the DPW chief. There was nothing he wouldn’t do in his retirement years. He would stop in here and say, ‘do you need anything? What can I do for you?’ And he did that for everybody in town. They were just a giving family,” Tarmy said.
Even though Ellen is no longer alive to see the exhibit, Tarmy is “hoping she’s looking down and appreciating it.”
The Exhibit runs through the end of March 2023
Wednesdays and Thursdays: 1 - 4PM