Minli Virdone
From Loom to Orbit
The original shuttle didn’t fly. Humans used shuttles as far back as the Neolithic period—we have archaeological evidence of woven textiles dating to around 6000–7000 BCE.
Today, the same word names vehicles that leave the atmosphere. As we casually say “space shuttle,” it’s easy to forget its origins in the repetitive labor of fabric production.
This piece holds both definitions at once: a historic tool once used to make our clothes, and its modern namesake in aerospace technology, which allows us to extend our reach beyond Earth.