Allen worked at International Latex Corporation (ILC) as part of the ILC Dover seamstresses team.[4] ILC had contracts with NASA to construct space suits for the Apollo program and the Space Shuttle program.[3] Allen worked on both of these initiatives. The ILC Dover seamstress team, including Allen, had ongoing input into the design on the astronauts' suits.[4][3]
Allen personally constructed the boots that Neil Armstrong wore when he first walked on the Moon.[2][3][5] Construction of Armstrong's boots took weeks.[6] They consisted of thirteen layers, each of which had to be sewn perfectly and pass inspection.[6] The boots, as well as the Apollo A7L and A7LB spacesuits created by Allen's team, suffered no major mishaps the entire time they were in use.[7] An ILC space suit designer at the time said of Allen: "She was the only one to ever make a perfect pair of boots."[6]
Allen was one of the several Black women who worked on this integrated team.[4][3] She worked for ILC for twenty-nine years.[6] She retired in 1998, though she later went to work for Draperies Etc.[1]
Personal life
Allen was born in Virginia in 1937 with the birth (maiden) name of Iona Tolliver.[1] She had three sisters and two brothers.[1] She married Sam Allen and had one child. She joined the NAACP and was a Jehovah's Witness.[1] She died at the age of 66, on July 15, 2003.[1]
References
^ abcdefgObituaries. (July 18, 2003). Delaware State News (Dover, DE). Retrieved from NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current.
^ abShayler D. J. & Moule I. A. (2005). Women in Space: Following Valentina. Springer-Verlag, London. p. 95. ISBN978-1-85233-744-5
^ abcdeAyrey, Bill (2020). Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit. Florida: University Press of Florida. pp. 66–67, 124. ISBN9780813057606.
^ abcdWilson, P. (July 25, 1999). "ILC employees gather to remember Apollo." Delaware State News (Dover, DE). Retrieved from NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current.