Hoe het ruimtepak invloed heeft op onze sportschoenen

Octrooien

Geschreven door Simone van Rosendaal

Dit artikel is alleen beschikbaar in het Engels. As this is the 50 year anniversary of humankind setting first foot on the moon, I would like to take the opportunity to look back on some of the great inventions that find basis in the Space Program and which we still in every-day life today.

One of the inventions that really sparked my interest, being a reasonably avid runner myself, can be found in US patent 3,751,727, which was filed by NASA in 1968 to protect their invention of the iconic space suit, as specially developed for the Apollo Space missions.

The next time you put on your trainers, you may remember Neil Armstrong’s famous quote “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.

The technology combined the helmet of the suit, combined with a convolute system developed for the joint areas, made to assist the astronauts movability in space by expanding and compressing to assist joint movement. This was further developed in a spin-off to improve the cushioning in the soles of sports shoes, allowing runners and other athletes to comfortable, without losing too much speed and agility.

This blog post is part of a series of 'Man on the Moon' articles to honour the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.