July 16, 1969. The world waited with bated breath as three men
in a rocket hurtled skyward, bound for the moon. Half a billion
people tuned in to watch the grainy black and white images of
Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong step out of the Eagle and onto
the lunar surface. Armstrong's first step was a triumph in a
complex operation that marked a new era for mankind. A group of
seamstresses in a small town called Frederica in the state of
Delaware was among those watching that moment on the moon. Their
role in the American space story is unrivaled. These unassuming
women, who started off their careers stitching bras and girdles,
had in fact sewn the spacesuits - 21 layers of material all
together. "I had something to do that was great. I did something
great in my lifetime. I built the suit that went to the moon,"
75-year-old Bert Pilkenton told CNN. For 42 years, Pilkenton,
along with some 80 other young women, individually tailored
spacesuits for International Latex Corporation (ILC)Dover, which
had been part of