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Forum:	Hardware & Flown Items
Topic:	Velcro and its connection to NASA history

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Your Reply: HTML is ON UBB Code is ON Smilies Legend	[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lou Chinal: [B]The first story I heard about Velcro was in 1948. A gentleman was hiking in Europe while wearing a knit sweater. He noticed when he got home some of the barbs caught on the loops of the wool. The rest as they say is history. Attention Skydivers around the world; check your Velcro with regularity. Both sides should be replaced every 100 jumps. [/B][/QUOTE]
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<table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="600"><TR><td bgcolor="#000000"><TABLE BORDER=0 cellpadding=4 border=0 cellspacing=1 WIDTH="100%"><TR bgcolor="#660000"><TD COLSPAN=2><CENTER>T O P I C     R E V I E W</CENTER></TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>Robert Pearlman</TD><TD>Velcro USA is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its trademark (May 13, 1958) this week (May 2008). Though developed separately from NASA (also 50 this year), the company is highlighting, in part, their role within U.S. space exploration history. <BLOCKQUOTE>It captured our imaginations along with the space program, and now it's something we can't live without. This world-famous invention inspired by Mother Nature has put convenience at the fingertips of a whole generation. For 50 years, VELCRO brand hook and loop fasteners have permeated the lives and imaginations of inventors, designers and households throughout the world. We've come to rely on hook and loop for everything from replacing shoelaces to securing lifesaving medical devices. ...the first use of hook and loop fastener was in 1953. De Mestral's invention soon spread throughout Europe and to America as Velcro S.A. obtained patents on both continents. The VELCRO brand was trademarked in the United States on May 13, 1958, and a cultural phenomenon was born. Since then, these beloved products have traced a storied history through America's pop culture, including flying with Neil Armstrong to the moon and fooling around on "The Late Show with David Letterman."</BLOCKQUOTE> As part of their celebration, Velcro USA has opened an exhibit at at Innoventions at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Though primarily focused on household uses for Velcro, guests end their visit to the "Slapstick Studios" exiting through a gallery presenting real-life industrial and commercial uses of hook and loop product. <BLOCKQUOTE>Visitors will view many VELCRO brand products, seldom seen by the general public, but used widely in applications and products for the NASA space program, automotive, medical and industrial markets.</BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#333333"><TD valign=top>Redglare</TD><TD>Anyone know what year NASA first started using Velcro? What mission was it first used for?Editor's note: Threads merged.</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>Steven Kaplan</TD><TD>Don’t know if it is the earliest use, but I am fairly certain that some of the flight items (binoculars?) displayed as flown on Friendship 7 in the National Air and Space Museum have Velcro glued to their surface which would date to February 1962. </TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#333333"><TD valign=top>Redglare</TD><TD>I looked for the binoculars and found a few more items with Velcro on a National Air and Space Museum webpage of artifacts from John Glenn's Friendship 7 flight. In addition to the binoculars there was Velcro attached on a Leica Camera, a Viewfinder for the Leica Camera, an Ansco Autoset 35mm Camera and a Blood Pressure Sensor.A collectSPACE <A HREF="http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum29/HTML/001120.html">posting</A> of a related topic mentions Velcro on the Friendship 7 flight. John Glenn recounts in an interview that he "pulled the Velcro fastener that kept some of the equipment held down during launch, the first thing that came floating up out of there was a little felt mouse."</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>Lou Chinal</TD><TD>The first story I heard about Velcro was in 1948. A gentleman was hiking in Europe while wearing a knit sweater. He noticed when he got home some of the barbs caught on the loops of the wool. The rest as they say is history.Attention Skydivers around the world; check your Velcro with regularity. Both sides should be replaced every 100 jumps. </TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table>

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