John Glenn in the Friendship 7(Thanks to osu.edu)
Velcro. What David letterman always refers to as "The miracle fabric of the '80s." It's funny to think that velcro was once new to me, and yet, so many young people have never known a world without it. The odd thing is I SHOULD have known about it all my life.
I recently acquired a big pile of old National Geographics. I was reading through a June 1962 article about John Glenn's famous orbit around the Earth in the Friendship 7. This passage really caught my attention:
"The inside of the capsule hatch is covered with a pad of fabric lined with thousands of miniature loops. Each piece of equipment has its own pad with countless tiny hooks.
On the ground the camera would be too heavy to hang on the door, but, weightless, it needs only to be pushed against the pad, and it sticks like a burr in lamb's wool."
And that's all it had to say about that. No mention whatsoever of the word "velcro" and, you know, they were actually EXPLAINING what velcro is. So NASA was using velcro in 1962. I was BORN in 1961. Why did it take so long for me to hear about velcro? Was it a secret?
7 comments:
I'm with Letterman on Velcro. I just love it. I've never understood why it isn't used instead of hooks on bras, but that's just my perverse libido. But, thank you for explaining the history of something that is both useful and plain old fun.
Ian
Personally, I sort of hate velcro. Especially on sneakers if you're younger that 85 and have hands riddled with arthritis.
I had no idea velcro had been around since the 1960s. And I had no idea it was used on John Glenn's spacecraft. Did you ever see the movie "The Right Stuff"? I love the scene where John Glenn is flying over Australia and the Aborigines are sending sparks from their bonfires up to his spacecraft.
Josie
Ian,
My guess is that bras are meant to be quiet.
Jazz,
I think it's great for little kids' shoes. They didn't have that when my daughter was a kid. It would have made life easier.
Josie,
I've probably seen that movie 50 times. The article in the National Geographic is a chronicle of the whole trip and the part about Australia does not mention that. I imagine there was a little creative license there. The people of Perth and nearby towns did turn on all of their lights as a "beacon."
Great blog. Enjoyed the read. I will be back for more
-0-0-
What? David Letterman is wrong?
Mike,
Thanks, I enjoyed your blog, too.
Jeanette,
He probably just had his dates wrong. ;)
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