Chile mine rescue made possible by innovative companies from across the globe

The rescue of 33 miners from half a mile below the earth's surface was truly a transfixing and inspiring event, an event that some even believe to parallel the Apollo moon landing.

As with the moon landing, a lot of technology and innovation -- and even a touch of audacity -- came together for a common purpose. Reports in BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today detail how various companies, large and small -- and a space agency -- donated and configured innovative technologies and services to make the rescue possible.

Here are a few examples:

• The tunnel was bore by a drill bit from Center Rock Inc. of Berlin, PA (74 employees)
• The drill's rig came from Schramm Inc. in West Chester, PA
• Food service to the miners was provided by Aramark, which developed a way to get vacuum-packed food down the smaller bore hole after the miners were discovered alive.
• NASA provided advice on how the miners could cope psychologically, how best to feed them and aided in design and construction of the pod that hauled the miners to the surface.
• Logistics for shipping mining equipment to the site was provided by United Parcel Service Inc.
• The very resilient cable that lifted and lowered the pod is from a company in Germany.
• The fiber-optic communications cable that enabled the miners to communicate with rescuers above came from a company in Japan.
• A cell phone with its own projector came from Samsung of South Korea.
• Socks made with copper fiber that eliminated bacteria, thereby reducing odor and infection, came from Cupron Inc. of Richmond, VA.

(Photo credit: CBS News.)

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com