In a 1959 press release touting its new flexible graphite fabric, the National Carbon Company, then a division of Union Carbide Corp., asked, “Will the first men rocketing to the moon wear graphite space suits?” The answer, as the world found out 10 years later, was no. The Apollo 11 astronauts were clothed mainly in fiberglass and Teflon. But the key component of National Carbon’s new textile — strong and flexible carbon fibers — still managed to revolutionize the world of materials in the years to come.

Since Roger Bacon discovered “graphite whiskers” in 1958 at Union Carbide’s Parma Technical Center, carbon fibers have been used in high performance applications from airplanes to automobiles and from satellites to sporting goods. Bacon’s research, along with a host of other scientists at Parma over the years, set the stage for the exploding field of carbon fiber-based composite materials technology. And despite missing the first trip to the moon, carbon fibers have still seen their fair share of outer space: Every space shuttle has had carbon fiber on the leading edge of its wing.

The American Chemical Society designated the development of high performance carbon fibers as a National Historic Chemical Landmark on September 17, 2003.