Yahoo! News - Space Age Materials Protect NFL Players from Harm



'Technology has helped improve the game,' Jack Del Rio, the rookie head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, told SPACE.com. 'But it all still comes down to blocking and tackling, and that hasn't changed.'



Twenty-two guys battling in the mud is what football is all about, make no mistake. Unless, of course, your team plays in a weather-protected domed stadium like the Detroit Lions' recently demolished Pontiac Silverdome. In 1975 the Silverdome became the first stadium to feature a fabric roof made of the same fiber glass beta cloth used in Apollo-era spacesuits.



The aging Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, home of the Minnesota Vikings, uses the same fabric on its roof -- although it's hoped that a new stadium for the Vikes will be built soon.



Men of steel



Through the years NASA and its contractor teams have become experts on inventing new materials or finding new uses for known materials. Tang, Teflon and Velcro all are good examples of materials NASA did not invent, but found ways to use in space.



Titanium is another example.



First discovered by the Rev. William Gregor in 1791, titanium as a pure elemental metal wasn't made until 1910, nor put to practical use until the 1950s by the aerospace industry, beginning with the Douglas-built X-3 jet plane.



Later, NASA built its X-15 rocket plane with a titanium structure, flying 199 missions from 1959 to 1968.



Fast forward to the 2003 NFL season: This year an increasing number of players for the first time will be wearing helmets outfitted with titanium face masks instead of the steel bars that have been around for decades.