Burrs, Astronauts & Janet Jackson

Along with things like paper clips, rubber bands and Scotch tape, it’s hard to imagine where we might be today without Velcro. I saw a comment somewhere recently that said you are old if you can remember when there was no Velcro. Mmm…The assumption there is that late forties, early fifties is old. It all started in 1941 with a hunting trip in Switzerland, but as a common fastener, Velcro didn’t make a big impact until the early 1960s.

Swiss Engineer Georges de Mestral often hunted with his dog and became interested in the burrs that frequently stuck both to his clothing and to the dog’s fur. A close look at the burrs showed that they were the seeds of burdock. Examining them under a microscope he discovered the hundreds of tiny hooks on the seed’s surface, hooks that caught on anything with a loop, such as clothing and dog’s fur. The idea came to him that it might be possible to apply this idea simply, but reversibly to other materials.

Ignored by most weavers, de Mestral eventually found one willing to make models of the idea. Cotton worked at first but wore out quickly so they switched to synthetic fibers. It took ten years to create something that was strong and worked well consistently. The first patent was granted in Switzerland and other countries soon followed. A magazine article in 1958 announced: “It is with understandable enthusiasm that I give you today an exclusive report on this news: A ‘zipperless zipper’ has been invented—finally.” But stardom for the zipperless zipper was slow to come, partially because of its low quality appearance. At the time Velcro (a combination of the French words velours and crochet) looked like something made from leftover bits of cheap fabric, and despite the journalist’s enthusiasm did not strike people as very practical.

It was the aerospace industry that gave Velcro its first big break, using the new product in spacesuits, which helped astronauts maneuver in and out of the bulky suits. Later came the use of Velcro by manufacturers of skis and ski wear, also a case of making something easier to put on and take off. Next on the bandwagon was the market for marine and Scuba gear. But it was once more the astronauts who boosted Velcro’s popularity with their Velcro food pouches on walls and television footage of them secured in the weightless atmosphere of space with Velcro. With that example children’s clothing makers snapped up the miracle fastener. And as they say, the rest is history.

VELCRO ODDITIES:

• According to National Park Service biologists at Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C., “Nature’s Velcro” or burdock weeds six feet high snared at least four ruby-throated hummingbirds—three of them fatally. They met their fate over a three-day period while migrating through the park. Thrashing to free themselves of one burr caused the victim birds to brush against neighboring burrs, ensnaring them fatally.

• A class of third graders in New York won a contest with their imaginative use of Velcro. Using the noise made when the fastener is pulled apart, the class did a rendition of “Yankee Doodle Dandy” with the Velcro straps on their shoes.

• Perhaps Velcro’s biggest (weakest?) moment came in the 2006 Super Bowl halftime show when Janet Jackson’s costume ‘malfunctioned’ and exposed her right breast partially covered by nipple jewelry. The incident has often been referred to as “Nipplegate.” It might have cost CBS $550,000 in fines but you can be sure it resulted in a goldmine of record sales and publicity for Janet Jackson and Justin ‘The Bodice Ripper’ Timberlake. The resulting hoopla in the US was such, it’s surprising the FCC didn’t file suit against Velcro.

Blast Off

On most days around this long stretch of beach catching the Atlantic surf attention is drawn to things like seashells and pelicans, the occasional turtle and now and then a pod of dolphins playing offshore. Fishing boats, sailboats and small planes overhead are common but earth trembling sights are rarer.

Forty-seven miles to the south of our seashells and pelicans is Cape Canaveral and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and on those days when the space shuttle is scheduled to lift off all attention turns to the blue skies over Cape Canaveral. At 4:53 p.m. last Thursday the oldest of the three shuttles, Discovery roared into the sky on its final flight, applauded by crowds watching from the beach. Most of us have seen it on video, on the television news and in countless Hollywood versions. Seeing a shuttle piggyback on huge rockets blasting into space without the filter of a TV camera adds something to the experience. Forty-seven miles is too far to actually feel the ground rumbling as the engines roar to life, but there is a sensation of trembling power in that gigantic glow of orange-colored thrust. Something inside breaks free and the involuntary WOW! HOLY COW! or WHOA! spills out.

If for no other reason Thursday’s launch deserves mention because it is the end of an era. First launched on August 30, 1984 the Discovery is scheduled for retirement, and following its official decommissioning will be moved to the Smithsonian Institute’s Air and Space Museum. Discovery has had a noble career and both NASA and its builder Rockwell International Space Systems can be proud of the orbiter’s performance. In twenty-seven years of service the Discovery has:

• flown thirty-nine missions

• carried 246 crew members into space

• spent 352 days in orbit

• circled the earth 5,628 times at 17,400 miles per hour

• traveled almost 143 million miles

• launched the Hubble Space Telescope

NASA calls Discovery its workhorse, ambassador, scientist and equal opportunity emissary, having fulfilled all those roles during its long years of service. On this last mission the orbiter is carrying the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module and the first humanoid robot in space, Robonaut 2.