Iona Allen

Neil Armstrong next to the Apollo 11
Neil Armstrong wearing the boots created by Iona Allen
An Enhanced Mobility Unit suit from the US' NASA Space Shuttle missions
An Extravehicular Mobility Unit suit of the kind Iona Allen helped create

Iona Tolliver Allen (May 17, 1937 – July 15, 2003[1]) was an American seamstress who helped develop and create space suits for multiple NASA space missions as part of the ILC Dover seamstresses team.[1] She constructed the boots that Neil Armstrong wore when he first walked on the Moon, and also worked on later Extravehicular Mobility Unit suits for astronauts in the Space Shuttle program.[2][3]

  1. ^ a b Obituaries. (July 18, 2003). Delaware State News (Dover, DE). Retrieved from NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current.
  2. ^ Shayler D. J. & Moule I. A. (2005). Women in Space: Following Valentina. Springer-Verlag, London. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-85233-744-5
  3. ^ Ayrey, Bill (2020). Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit. Florida: University Press of Florida. pp. 66–67, 124. ISBN 9780813057606.