The Soviets had made the first big splash in space with Sputnik, and then launching the first astronaut Yuri Gagarin.
The spacesuits were the work of Playtex, the company that gave America the “Cross Your Heart” bra in the 1960s.
Some of the layers of fabric in the suits were adapted directly from materials Playtex used in its bras and girdles.
An ILC Industries employee sews layers of aluminized plastic together during the assembly of a NASA space suit for the Apollo program.
Every stitch had to be perfect if the spacesuits were to perform correctly—and protect the astronauts—in the unforgiving environment of the moon.
Raytheon found that out during Apollo when there was a brief strike in the mid-1960s that included the Waltham factory.
Managers and supervisors attempted to keep the Apollo computer assembly line going by sitting down to do the weaving themselves. »
