{"id":14766,"date":"2025-04-24T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=14766"},"modified":"2025-04-24T11:08:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T16:08:33","slug":"u-is-for-the-untold-story-of-jean-wright-and-nasa-seamstresses-sew-sister-by-elise-matich-nonfiction-picture-book-atoz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=14766","title":{"rendered":"U is for the Untold story of Jean Wright and NASA seamstresses: SEW SISTER, by Elise Matich (Nonfiction Picture Book) #AtoZ"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Book<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Space Shuttle!
Technological wonder,
astronauts’ orbiting home,
covered with blankets\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, each of the space shuttles had a coat of unique fabric panels for protection from the blazing heat of its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Who made them? How?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jean grew up learning to sew and became a huge fan of NASA’s space program after men landed on the Moon when she was a young teen in Flint, Michigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how could a girl without a college education ever work for NASA?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years later, when her husband retired from the Navy, they settled in Florida near Cape Canaveral so she could see rockets and space shuttles launched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at this news article! NASA employed seamstresses to construct the many-layered fireproof panels needed for each shuttle!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jean immediately applied to join the team and began studying shuttle blueprints because every panel had to be uniquely shaped to fit its spot on the shuttle’s exterior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She waited and applied again and waited – finally, she was called to join the Sew Sisters whose work kept shuttle astronauts safe during launch, orbit, and re-entry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Different quilts for different protective purposes – against atmospheric friction, solar radiation, roaring engine noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sew Sisters had to create a pattern for each and every quilt section so all 1400 pieces fit perfectly around a shuttle’s curved outer skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, no! Atlantis<\/em> tore a blanket loose on take-off! The Sew Sisters rushed to test blankets with various repairs in a wind tunnel and while wearing bulky space-suit gloves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jean and the Sew Sisters anxiously watched as Atlantis’<\/em> on-board camera showed the astronauts fix their dangerous problem on a space walk, by using a surgical stapler!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long-held dream, long-practiced skills, and persistence brought Jean into the Sew Sisters – now we know about their vital part in the Space Shuttle program, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What quiet behind-the-scenes work would you like to see in a picture book?
**kmm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book info<\/strong>: Sew Sister: the Untold Story of Jean Wright and NASA’s Seamstresses \/ Elise Matich. Tilbury House Publishers, 2023. [author site https:\/\/elisematich.com\/<\/a>] [publisher site https:\/\/www.tilburyhouse.com\/product-page\/sew-sister<\/a>] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Space Shuttle!Technological wonder,astronauts’ orbiting home,covered with blankets\u2026 Yes, each of the space shuttles had a coat of unique fabric panels for protection from the blazing heat of its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Who made them? How? Jean grew up learning to sew and became a huge fan of NASA’s space program after men landed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,50,23],"tags":[10,11,5,42,16,239,43,49,262,156,242,91,21,164,342,35,6,53,8,507],"class_list":["post-14766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biography","category-historical","category-nonfiction","tag-a2z","tag-communication","tag-coping","tag-crafts","tag-determination","tag-florida","tag-growing-up","tag-memories","tag-michigan","tag-picturebook","tag-projects","tag-science","tag-self-image","tag-sewing","tag-space","tag-surprises","tag-travel","tag-us-artist","tag-us-author","tag-women"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14766"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14771,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14766\/revisions\/14771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}