https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duct_tape wrote:
<<"Duck tape" is recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary as having been in use since 1899; During World War II, Revolite (then a division of Johnson & Johnson) developed an adhesive tape made from a rubber-based adhesive applied to a durable duck cloth backing. This tape resisted water and was used to seal some ammunition cases during that period.
Cotton duck (from Dutch: doek, "linen canvas"), also simply duck, sometimes duck cloth or duck canvas, is a heavy, plain woven cotton fabric. Duck canvas is more tightly woven than plain canvas. Cotton duck is used in a wide range of applications, from sneakers to painting canvases to tents to sandbags. There is also linen duck, which is less often used.
The discovery of dyed flax fibers in a cave in Southeastern Europe (present-day Georgia) dated to 36,000 years ago suggests that ancient people used wild flax fibers to create linen-like fabrics from an early date. Fragments of straw, seeds, fibers, yarns, and various types of fabrics, including linen samples, dating to about 8,000 BC have been found in Swiss lake dwellings. Woven flax textile fragments have been "found between infant and child" in a burial at Çatalhöyük, a large settlement dating to around 7,000 BC.
In ancient Egypt, linen was used for mummification and for burial shrouds. It was also worn as clothing on a daily basis; white linen was worn because of the extreme heat. For example, the Tarkhan dress, considered to be among the oldest woven garments in the world and dated to between 3482 and 3102 BC, is made of linen. Plutarch wrote that the priests of Isis also wore linen because of its purity. When the tomb of the Pharaoh Ramses II, who died in 1213 BC, was discovered in 1881, the linen wrappings were in a state of perfect preservation after more than 3000 years.[citation needed] When the tomb of Tutankhamen was opened, the linen curtains were found to be intact.
...................................................................................................
- Interviewer: And duct tape works in the vacuum of space as well as it does here?
Walker: Oh, yes. Yes, it does. It sticks.
— Charles D. Walker, describing duct tape's use on STS-51-D
...................................................................................................
According to NASA engineer Jerry Woodfill, a 52-year NASA veteran, duct tape had been stowed on board every mission since early in the Gemini program. NASA engineers and astronauts have used duct tape in the course of their work, including in some emergency situations. One such usage occurred in 1970 when Woodfill was working in Mission Control, when the square carbon dioxide filters from Apollo 13's failed command module had to be modified to fit round receptacles in the lunar module, which was being used as a lifeboat after an explosion en route to the moon. A workaround used duct tape and other items on board Apollo 13, with the ground crew relaying instructions to the flight crew. The lunar module's CO2 scrubbers started working again, saving the lives of the three astronauts on board. Ed Smylie, who designed the scrubber modification in just two days, said later that he knew the problem was solvable when it was confirmed that duct tape was on the spacecraft: "I felt like we were home free," he said in 2005. "One thing a Southern boy will never say is, 'I don't think duct tape will fix it.'">>
Lunar Dust and Duct Tape
