The seamstresses who helped put a man on the moon: When NASA needed a lunar suit, they turned to women who sewed sheaths and bras for Playtex.

Even for people who have actually done it, the idea of ​​walking on the moon is still a little hard to understand. In 1972, Harrison "Jack" Sschmitt of Apollo 17 became the last man to set foot on the moon.

"Whenever you feel a little homesick, you could just look up and see the Earth hanging over the South Massif, so it was really a spectacular place," Schmitt said.

"It's amazing to watch and see the Earth," said correspondent Tracy Smith.

"Oh, it's only 250,000 km away – it's here!"

"You are one of the 12 people who have ever been on the moon, can you understand that?"

"Not really," says Schmitt. "I had the honor and the privilege of being part of the Apollo program." But like all the others [of] Apollo Program, we were in the right place at the right time with an extremely strong motivation to succeed. "

And they were motivated, from the astronauts who said goodbye to the history books, to the guys smoking in the Mission Control chain. But in places where television cameras did not always pass, a small army of women was working just as hard for equally important jobs.

The fabrication of space suits for astronauts is a story in itself. Before man could take a giant step, he had to solve some gigantic problems: in the void of space, without the proper space suit, an astronaut could explode like a balloon, or burn, or perhaps to be pierced by a micrometeorite.

When NASA needed a new lunar combination, large government contractors, such as Litton Industries and Hamilton Standard, designed prototypes of rigid, bulky, space suits that often resembled a Sir Galahad-Buzz crossover. Lightyear.

The first models of spacesuits were anything but flexible.

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NASA needed something more flexible, and they discovered that no one knew the flexibility like those who made the Playtex belts and bras.

Playtex, also known as the International Latex Corporation (ILC) of Dover, Delaware, was not as big as the other garment makers, but their ideas were radical.

In 1967, ILC proposed a softer and more flexible space suit made almost entirely of fabric, then filmed at a local high school with an employee testing the suit on the football field.

In the end, the company won the contract for the Apollo suits and entrusted some of their seamstresses with a new mission.

Smith asked Anna Lee Minner, one of the women who had made the costumes that went to the moon, if she had been told that they were going to make space suits. "They did not say anything," she replied. "They just brought me here."

"So, bras and belts in space suits?"

"Small pieces like this, to big pieces like this"Said Minner.

It turns out that women had the perfect touch, according to Homer Riehm, Project Manager at ILC. "The people who sewed the costumes were all women, that's right," he said.

And the reason? "Agility."

And it took a lot of agility: each suit consisted of 21 layers of very fine fabric, sewn with a precise 1/64 inch tolerance on a sewing machine that your grandmother might have used.

Reihm said, "We were interested in precision."

In other words, no mistake could be made.

Minner said, "I went home several times and I cried because I knew I could not do it.I was scared.It was life d & # 39; a person on whom it depended. "

Seamstresses Joanne Thompson, Lillie Elliott, Ruth Anna Ratledge and Anna Lee Minner were part of the team that sent men to the moon.

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In fact, they never forgot that their work could make the difference between victory and tragedy. The women at ILC took their job very seriously. "They may have had the most important work of all, frankly," said Basil Hero, author of the Apollo Account, "The Mission of a Lifetime." "As Neil Armstrong put it," these space suits were mini spaceships. "You were at a point of death, and if these combinations failed, that was it, you're done."

So women put their hearts into it. Lillie Elliott, who cut the motives, first stated that she did not really understand the responsibility of their sewing: "But later, you know, when you had all these inspections going on, you had the impression that it was snapping in your head., I have to do it right. "

And then the work has become even harder.

In January 1967, during a test, a spark in the pure oxygen atmosphere of the Apollo 1 capsule triggered a hell where astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee could not escape. 39; escape.

In the months that followed, NASA engineers put their pain aside and made the spacecraft safer. ILC also reorganized the costumes to eliminate anything that could burn.

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And the inspections out there could be brutal: if one of the women left a pin lost in the finished suit, there would be a hell to pay.

Smith asked, "So, if you had a pin in your spacesuit, what happened?"

"You're stuck with that!" Ruth Anna Ratledge says.

"I guess you're learning your lesson that way."

"Thank God it was not me!" she laughed.

The astronauts themselves were familiar faces in the making of their suits, both for the personal ties and on the signed face cards hanging from each suit – a reminder that astronauts were betting their lives in the expert hands of l & # 39; ILC.

Seamstress Joanna Thompson said, "We would bring astronauts to thank us, it was a real boost, it created a link that you have not forgotten."

And on July 20, 1969, when the big moment finally arrived, the women of the International Latex held their breath. Lillie Elliott remembered, "Once they started going down the ladder, and he put his foot on the moon, it was a pinnacle to look at something you helped to do that. "

Smith asked, "Where was your heart at that time?"

"In my throat!" Elliott answered.

"Was there an inner dialogue going on, a voice in your head?"

Elliott said, "Oh my God, I wonder if that's going to hold up? Oh my God, I'm wondering if everything is going to be okay … I hope this point did not jump!"

Observing from Mission Control, Homer Riehm only wanted it to be over, especially when Buzz Aldrin turned a moonwalk into a sprint on the moon: "And I say to myself," Corral this guy. Lock it up and climb it to the top of the scale it's a success. Declare a success and go inside! I wanted Buzz Aldrin to stop running and climb the ladder! "

In fact, none of the space suits failed, not once, nor during the first lunar mission.

Harrison Schmitt remembered how, from time to time, as he moved on the moon, he began to sing. "I had a good time!" he said.

Smith asked, "Have you been able to have fun?"

"I really did, all the time I spent up there."

Schmitt, who turned 84 this month, still enjoys sharing his lunar experience. And some of the ladies who sewed her suit would like to come in too. "We enjoyed every moment, every point – I would do it again if I could," said Ruth Anna Ratledge.

"Would you still like to do it?" Smith asked

"Yes," she laughs. "I liked it."

Joanne Thompson added, "Wow, I'm still amazed, it was awesome!"

They are all retired now, but ILC still makes space suits … and who knows? An ILC combination could one day go to Mars.

But it all started with Apollo 11 and a small group of devoted women on Earth who helped us get closer to the sky.

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Story produced by John D & # 39; Amelio.