7 inventions from the Apollo space program we still use today
From the tiny cameras in our cellphones to the heat-proof uniforms used by firefighters to protect them from the dangers of the job — here are seven famous inventions from the 1960s moon shot.
It took a feminine touch to make sure Neil Armstrong and his moonwalking cohorts could make their giant leap for mankind and get to the Moon.
Specifically, it took the touch of a few seamstresses from Playtex who honed their detailed set of skills by manufacturing girdles for the women of America. The suits had to be flexible, resilient and able to withstand temperatures as high as 240 degrees Fahrenheit and as low as minus 280 degrees in shadow and at night.
NASA decided in a competition of manufacturers that the suit designed and sewn by the Playtex team provided the astronauts with the flexibility and strength necessary to explore the Moon’s new frontier.
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And the expert craftswomen who helped manufacture the state of the art suit? Just weeks before they were sewing baby pants and girdles.
In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity. (Neil Armstrong/NASA via AP)
“They didn’t tell me a thing, they just brought me up here,” said Anna Lee Minner in an interview with CBS News. “… I went home on many a night and cried because I knew I couldn’t do it. I was scared. This was a person’s life this depended on.”
Minner was one of four who helped put together the suits. The others were Joanne Thompson, Lillie Elliott and Ruth Anna Ratledge.
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The 21-layer suit had to be completely constructed by hand. Each seam and stitch was carefully measured to ensure the utmost accuracy in the hopes that their detailed efforts would help NASA avoid another disaster like the Apollo 1 capsule inferno that killed three astronauts.
"Oh my, I wonder if this is gonna be alright. I hope that stitch didn’t pop."
Despite the immense pressure and mountainous stakes, the women were lifted up by the frequent presence of the astronauts themselves.
“We would have astronauts come in and thank us, and that was a real boost,” Thompson told CBS News. “It made a connection there that you didn’t forget.”
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Finally, on July 20, 1969, the efforts of the women would be tested in the low-gravity environment of the moon.
“Once they started down the ladder, and he put his foot on the moon, that was a pinnacle of watching something that you’ve helped to do,” Elliott told CBS.
As exhilarating as it was seeing their products touch down on a new frontier, the anxiety didn’t abate immediately for the women.
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“Oh my, ‘I wonder if that’s gonna hold? Oh my, I wonder if this is gonna be alright. I hope that stitch didn’t pop,’” Elliot said of her worries when watching the lunar landing.
The partnership between NASA and the former undergarment maker remains intact. The same division in Playtex that made the original suits has been spun off into an independent company, ILC Dover, that still manufactures NASA spacesuits to this day.
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Be sure to catch the America’s News HQ Apollo 11 50th anniversary special on Fox News on Saturday, July 20 at 12 PM EDT.