Walking in the Shoes of Astronauts

While reading the De-Orbit Burn module book, I noticed that the origin of the modern midsole for athletic shoes originates from lunar boots used on Apollo missions (Texas, 2013). As a distance runner, I was interested to say the least, so I immediately looked up the correlation of lunar boots to athletic shoes for myself. It did not take long before I came across an article by Jim Sam entitled Technological Spinoffs: Spinoffs from the Space Program. According to this article, “Technology originally developed for the boots worn on the moon, has now been applied to athletic shoes in the mid-sole section. The technology improves shock absorption, stability, and motion control,” (n.d.). It was then that I realized that, thanks to athletic sneakers, we are all walking in the shoes of astronauts.
Before the 1980's, running shoes were cushioned with a fairly basic foam. This foam had a tendency to easily wear out over the course of about 100 miles or less because of the continuous compression it experienced through regular use. Eventually, shoe companies decided to create a shoe that would not wear out as easily as the conventional foam sole. AVIA, a subsidiary of Reebok, hired Al Gross, former space suit engineer, to solve this dilemma. Gross threw away the idea of a foam sole and decided to try to make a mechanical way to cushion athletes. His solution used the same “convolute system” as was used in Apollo space suit joints to provide a rigid, yet flexible, cushioning method. In addition, Gross utilized NASA's method for creating impact resistant helmets, called blow molding, to fabricate his design. After a few years of testing, the Compression Chamber sole was featured in a great number of AVIA's shoe designs (“Spinoff,” n.d.).
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...p for Technology. NASA.gov. Retrieved January 17, 2014, from http://www.nasa.gov/missions/science/f_apollo_11_spinoff.html
Ransacker. (2010). The History of Running Shoes. Ransacker.co.uk. Retrieved January 17, 2014, from http://www.ransacker.co.uk/home/about-us/manufacturers/the-history-of-running-shoes/
Sam, J. (n.d.). Athletic Shoes. Technological Spinoffs: Spinoffs from the Space Program. Retrieved January 17, 2014, from http://spaceracehistory.tripod.com/spin.shtml
Spinoff from a Moon Suit. (n.d.). NTRS.NASA.gov. Retrieved January 17, 2014, from http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20020086325_2002139400.pdf
Texas High School Aerospace Scholars Project. (2013). Household, Consumer and Recreation Benefits. Examples of Spinoffs. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from https://www.aerospacescholars.org/as/mod/book/view.php?id=1598&chapterid=3307