LOCAL COMPANY MAKES OFFICIAL PATCHES FOR NASA SPACESUITS
When space shuttle Atlantis touched down last week in Florida, it marked the official end of NASA’s shuttle program. It’s also the end of an era for a Western North Carolina company that’s been sending its products into space for more than four decades. Duncan McFadyen visits A-B Emblem in Weaverville.
The 30th Anniversary Shuttle emblem, flanked by the final mission patches for (top from left) Challenger, Columbia, (bottom from left) Discovery, Endeavour, and Atlantis.
Click here to listen.
In
a windowless steel warehouse about five miles north of Asheville, about
a half-dozen seamstresses sit at heavy-duty sewing machines. They’re
adding backing and finishing the edges for all sorts of embroidered
patches. Among them are grey-green “RANGER” and “MOUNTAIN” insignia for
the sleeves of army uniforms. But a black diamond shaped patch, with
bright gold, blue, and red accents stands out. It’s the official mission
patch for STS-135, the last space shuttle flight. And the astronauts
who’ve just returned from space have patches just like it sewn onto
their flight suits. So those who work at AB Emblem feel a real
connection to NASA.
“A part of us has gone into space. Things that we have touched and felt and cut out and worked on,” says Kati Phelps.For over thirty years she’s been the company’s liaison to
the space program. AB Emblem has had the exclusive contract to produce
all of the patches---or embroidered emblems, as they call them---for
every NASA mission since 1970. That goes all the way back to Apollo 12.
Each
mission’s commander has had the privilege of designing the official
mission emblem. Phelps has worked closely with them to make sure their
designs will translate properly into embroidery.
Phelps says, “embroidery is not printing and sometimes the things that you
want to happen may not be feasible in embroidery without some specific
tweaks.”
It
often takes several tries to get it right. Astronauts have very precise
standards for their designs, and many details have special meaning. S o
everything down to things like the number of stars has to be just
right.
Because some of the astronauts are also pilots, they sometimes fly themselves to Western North Carolina to meet with Phelps.
“I have sat down to dinner with them and found myself talking
with them about old cars and the fact that they can---unlike us they can
put their pants on two legs at a time. They’ve talked about their
sleeping habits, and they’re all just generally really great guys,” she says.
Phelps won’t give the names of astronauts she’s met, but she smiled proudly as
she pointed to a framed montage of John Glenn’s mission patches. The
matting in that frame was inscribed to her by Glenn in 1998.
The
company’s work with NASA won’t end here. AB Emblem will continue to
produce all of the NASA mission patches. Phelps says demand for some of
them has been so high that they have made more than 200,000 for
certain missions. They will also be producing new patches for each
expedition to the International Space Station.
But, as it is with so many people connected to the space program, knowing this is the final shuttle mission is bittersweet.
“Well it’s a sad thing to me and I'm sure to everyone else. It has been so much a part of our lives here,” she reflects.
Though it may be the end of the line for the space shuttle, Kati Phelps says she has no immediate plans to retire.
