Benefits of the Moon Landing

[Rocketmaniac]

At work last night, I was trying to remember all the benefits from the Apolo Program and the Moon Landing....... I mean what things were invented or developed as direct result.......

 

[sandman]

Let's see...

Dopler Radar
Velcro
medical telemetry
computer "fly by wire" technology
LOX/LH2 rocket engines perfected
improved weather radar
Orbital rondevous techniques
Fuel cells
radiation shielding

The technology comes from overcoming the challanges of a trip to the moon. Not so much the trip itself.

The benifits of such a mission were roughly for every dolar spent on the space program we go $10 worth of research.

my $.02

sandman

 

[arthur dent]

I think GORTEX was developed for space aswell,but don't quote me on that

 

[mge55389]

How about Tang?

 

[rstaff3]

And freeze dried ice cream...yum!

 

[Justy]

Scopalamine patches for motion sickness.

Oh, and this:

A few years ago I was watching one of those numerous programs detailing the lunar landings, and that night I stepped outside and took a look at the full moon. And rather than seeming that it was just a little higher than the airliners flew, I actually had a feel for how far the moon was. I mean, it's one thing to "know" it's 384,000 clicks away, but it's another thing to really understand that. It was a satori, a moment of clear thinking.

Does that count as a benefit of the moon landings? Maybe not worth 10% of America's GNP for eleven years, but still...

Orbital rendezvous techniques were developped in the Gemini program but ultimately meant for Apollo so I guess it counts.

Fly-by-wire tech was used by Avro Canada for the CF-105 "Arrow" fighter-interceptor in the late 1950's (the project was cancelled shortly after Sputnik). I don't know if they invented it or not, but it was invented and in use in aircraft before manned spaceflight. As an interesting crossover, there was a plan to create a variant of the Arrow where the missile bay was replaced by a launch bay for a rocket for launching small payloads to orbit!

 

[MattEx]

The best benefit of all: bragging rights!

 

[sandman]

Justy,

When Eisenhower discovered that "those Canadians"...or is it Canadiens?...had developed a mach two fighter he pulled Deafenbaker (sp) aside and said, "No, you don't need a fighter jet! We'll give you Bomarc missle if you scrap the Avro Arrow."

Overnight all of the Avro Arrow prototypes and all the research involved...just went away!

All of the Avro engineers went to work for the new U.S. Gov't branch called NASA.

They brought the Fly-by-wire technology with them.

sandman

 

[illini]

Originally posted by sandman
All of the Avro engineers went to work for the new U.S. Gov't branch called NASA.

That's right! Interesting, isn't it, that one America's finest moments was injected with a heavy dose of Canada and Germany?

 

[Justy]

Originally posted by sandman
All of the Avro engineers went to work for the new U.S. Gov't branch called NASA.

They brought the Fly-by-wire technology with them.

Of course! I forgot about that. A huge chunk of Avro Canada's development staff went south, a smaller group went east to work on the Concorde. I guess it shows that we're better playing as part of a team than on our own.

When there's a moon landing again, I hope it's from all of us (USA, Canada, Japan, and any ISS member who met at least most of their commitments) and not just you guys. I mean, while we're talking about long-term benefits of space programs, regardless of the science involved, just getting all the different space agencies involved in the ISS working together was an accomplishment in itself. Yeah, there have been problems a-plenty, but this is the first international space exploration project on this scale, and you've got to start somewhere.

 

[illini]

The idealist in me says, yep that's the way to do it. Bring the whole world along while singing Kumbaya as loudly as we can. However, my more pragmatic (and downright cynical) side knows how hard it is to get two government agencies to work together, much less two governments.

 

[Rocketmaniac]

My wife just told me that "saran wrap" came from the space program.............

 

[rstaff3]

It would be neat to see a full list, but in poking around I've found tons of things, many not as obvious as the ones listed. It is clear that the money spent on the space program fuels scientific progress big time.

 

[prowlerguy]

Originally posted by Rocketmaniac
My wife just told me that "saran wrap" came from the space program.............

Nope. Saran was a WWII invention, used to seal up engines during transatlantic transport on ships.

https://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsaranwrap.htm