The Moon Boot strongly influenced athletic footwear at the time with its shock absorption capability, excellent stability, and motion control. In 1991, A NASA Apollo engineer, Al Gross, used his design knowledge and replaced the foam material in the mid-sole with DuPont Hytrel plastic. This eliminated the cushioning loss from the wearer’s body weight.

Gross also used the external pressurized shell and stress-free “blow molding” process from the spacesuit technology.

I recently met NASA’s Joe Kosmo, NASA engineer and Space Suit designer. Seen here is a set of overshoes that were designed to be worn over the Apollo spacesuit boots when an astronaut was walking on the Moon. These boots were fashioned with a silicone sole, woven stainless steel upper (Chromel-R), with added layers of thermal protection and beta felt in the soles as protection against extreme temperatures and sharp rocks on the lunar surface. (Image courtesy of Loretta Taranovich)