In this article, I will examine inventions we use daily that date back to the Apollo moon mission era. Here are 42 Inventions from the Apollo Program.
Existing technology, business opportunities, and NASA’s interest make us ready to return to the Moon and establish a space station on its surface.
The possibility of scientific research will make this effort possible in the coming years. The goal is to go to the Moon in 2025.
Many of the technological standards in daily life arise from the drive to put a man on the Moon.
This effort reached its pinnacle when astronaut Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11, stepped off the landing module “Eagle” and onto the Moon’s surface 55 years ago.
They are inventions we all can use, but they were created for space exploration.
So, unlike modern inventions we no longer use, these inventions are used daily to improve environmental sustainability, save lives, and keep us healthy.
Check out our article on the Best Telescopes of 2024. In it, we review and recommend a variety of top-rated telescopes available on Amazon.
As we marvel at the scientific and technological feats of the Apollo program, it’s equally fascinating to explore the financial commitment that made it all possible. For a closer look at the expenditure, complete with the breakdown of costs translated to 2023 dollars, we invite you to read our in-depth article on the cost of the Apollo program.
Technologies developed from the Apollo Program.
The US administration spent about $26 billion, around $260 billion in today’s dollars, between 1960 and 1972.
This was to hire contractors and subcontractors who employed hundreds of thousands of people to design and improve the technology that led us to the Moon’s surface and back to Earth.
While some fantastic tech has stayed inside the space industry, much of it has seeped into the public.
And there’s an enormous list of the stuff. NASA has a whole department dedicated to recording it all.
Sometimes, separating reality from myth isn’t easy. The below-mentioned, however, are actual space program spinoffs.
Inventions From the Apollo Program
From the miniature cameras in our cellphones to the firefighters’ heat-proof suits to shield them from the job’s dangers. Here are some famous inventions from the 1960s Apollo moon program.
1. Thermal Blankets
Marathon runners often wear silvery space blankets, and emergency patients also use these thermal blankets.
They were inventions that came from the famous Apollo 11 mission.
The lightweight reflective coat was created by NASA when it wanted a material that would insulate the Apollo astronauts and their spacecraft while taking up little space.
2. The Dustbuster
The Dustbuster was made possible thanks to Black & Decker’s work with NASA on producing a lightweight and power-efficient tool for the Apollo Lunar Surface Drill.
The same motor device used on the 1969 lunar landing was then used to build the Dustbuster.
Want to journey through the Apollo Program’s iconic history? Don’t miss our Complete Guide to the Apollo Program. It’s your roadmap to understanding every mission and milestone!
3. Advanced Cameras
According to NASA’s Spinoff magazine, the small, highly effective cameras used in our GoPro recorders and cellphones were made possible by a NASA engineer charged with creating a more miniature camera for space.
The tiny CMOS sensor made photos on the Moon and our modern-day selfies achievable.
4. Vacuum-sealed Food
The vacuum-sealed food that fills our supermarket shelves is another NASA spinoff. It was created to make sure food in space wouldn’t be destroyed.
Vacuum packaging stops microorganisms from spreading, ensuring astronauts don’t get sick in space.
5. Shock-absorbing sneaker Soles
Sneaker company Avia turned to NASA’s suit when aspiring to create a shock-absorbing sole that didn’t break down under the weight.
Their registered Compression Chamber midsole produced in 1990 was invented with help from a NASA engineer.
6. Fireproof Firefighter Uniforms
A fireproof cloth used in firefighter uniforms was also made possible thanks to the Apollo 11 Moon mission.
After the Apollo 1 cabin fire killed all three crew members, NASA produced a suit made of flexible, fireproof fiber to endure extreme heat.
7. Artificial Limbs
Innovations created initially for space vehicles, including artificial muscle systems, diamond-joint coatings, temper foam, and robotic sensors, make artificial human limbs more functional, durable, comfortable, and life-like.
8. The Insulin Pump
To monitor astronauts’ vital signs in space, the Goddard Space Flight Center built tracking systems to control blood sugar levels and release insulin as needed.
9. Scratch-Resistant Lenses
After NASA created scratch-resistant astronaut helmets, the agency licensed Foster-Grant Corporation to experiment with scratch-resistant plastics, which now include most sunglasses and prescription lenses.
10. DustBusters
During the Apollo program moon landings, NASA partnered with Black & Decker to create various battery-powered devices for taking rock samples and drilling in space.
This led to the production of the ultra-light, compact, cordless DustBuster.
11. Firefighting Equipment
The polymers produced for use in space suits have helped create flame-retardant, heat-resistant clothes used by firefighters.
Also, newer suites feature circulating coolant to keep the firefighters from succumbing to the heat.
Advanced breathing systems were designed after Apollo astronaut life support systems.
12. Shock Absorbers for Buildings
Shock absorbers are produced to protect equipment while space shuttle launches.
They are now used to protect bridges and buildings in areas predisposed to earthquakes.
13. LASIK
The technology was used to track Apollo astronauts’ eyes through periods in space.
Evaluating how humans’ frames of reference are influenced by weightlessness has become necessary for use during LASIK surgery.
The tool tracks a patient’s eye position for the surgeon.
14. Solar Cells
Out of a need to power the Apollo space missions, NASA has invented and consistently developed photovoltaic cells, sharing the progress with other companies to hasten the technology.
15. Water Filtration
In the 1970s, NASA created filtration systems that used iodine and cartridge filters to guarantee that astronauts had access to safe and tasteless water. This filtering technology is presently standard.
16. Wireless Headsets
With two airline pilots who’d made a wireless headset prototype, NASA created a light, hands-free communication system that would enable Apollo astronauts to communicate back to the teams on Earth.
The technology was utilized both in the Apollo and Mercury missions.
17. Better Tires
Following the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company’s development of the material used in NASA’s Viking Lander parachute shrouds, the company began applying it in its everyday radial tires.
The material is more robust than steel, adding thousands of miles of life to the wheels.
18. Adjustable Smoke Detector
In cooperation with the Honeywell Corporation, NASA upgraded smoke detector technology in the 1970s.
It was a producing unit with adjustable sensitivity to avoid continuous false alarms.
19. Freeze-Dried Foods
Throughout long space missions where every ounce of an inch of space and weight aboard a shuttle must be used as maximized, freeze-dried foods have become a staple.
And freeze-dried foods are amazingly light, and they maintain their nutritional value.
Once reconstituted, they are more accessible and pleasant to eat than the former meal sources packed into squeeze tubes.
Lobster bisque, beef pot roast, peach ambrosia, and all things that, if you were an astronaut, you might eat out of a plastic pouch while leaving Earth at 5,000 miles per hour.
The Freeze-dried foods were ideal for the “weight-conscious” Apollo Moon missions, in which the spacecraft was required to stay lean to get to the Moon and back even as the astronauts burned a massive 2,800 calories per day to keep themselves operating.
And a favorite? According to Charles Bourland, some shrimp cocktails were made by a food specialist who started working on the Apollo program in the late ’60s.
“It’s got a bit of flavoring, and shrimp hydrates very well. It’s like possessing a fresh shrimp with cocktail sauce,” he says.
And one thing they had to avoid was High-fiber diets!
20. Invisible Braces
After Ceradyne and NASA invented a transparent material that could easily protect radar equipment without blocking the radar’s signal.
Unitek Corporation/3M teamed up with Ceradyne, utilizing the material to create invisible braces.
21. Camera Phones
In the 1990s, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed a lightweight, small imaging system that requires little energy to capture high-quality images from space.
This technology has become standard in cell phones and computer cameras.
22. Baby Formula
A nutritious, algae-based vegetable oil created by NASA scientists searching for a recycling agent to apply during extended space missions is now an additive in several infant formulas.
It comprises two essential fatty acids that the human body cannot synthesize.
23. Lifeshears
The pyrotechnic device used to separate a space shuttle from its rocket boosters after launch is identical to the one used in Lifeshears but on a smaller scale.
Lifeshears are devices that can be used in emergencies to cut into cars or crumpled buildings to rescue people caught inside.
24. CAT-Scans
NASA’s digital signal technology, applied initially to recreate pictures of the Moon during the Apollo missions, is the underlying technology that makes MRIs and CAT scans possible.
25. The Grooved Pavement
The absolute necessities for landing space shuttles led NASA scientists to extensively research minimizing hydroplaning when vehicles slide uncontrollably on a wet surface on runways.
They found that cutting grooves into runways improves channel water away from the runway and significantly decreases accidents.
Many airports and highways now have grooved pavement.
26. The Memory Foam
The memory foam was initially invented as a pad for astronaut seats that would mold their bodies through the high forces of takeoff and landing, then turn to a neutral state.
This eradicated the need to customize seats to different astronauts’ body sizes.
27. Workout Machines
Because lengthened exposure to zero gravity leads to muscle atrophy and bone loss, NASA designed workout machines to allow astronauts to maintain physical fitness while in space.
28. Air Purifier
In the artificial environment of a spacecraft, attempts to grow plants have led to ethylene buildup.
So, NASA developed an air purifier for the International Space Station that is now applied widely on Earth – everywhere from hospitals to restaurants and refrigerators – to remove ethylene, which speeds the decay, as well as other particulates and pathogens.
29. Home Insulation
NASA started experimenting with insulation technology for the Apollo spacesuits and spacecraft, leading to standard construction insulation.
30. Infrared Ear Thermometers
Infrared ear thermometers permit immediate temperature capture without the risk of accumulating pathogens and causing cross-infection and use the same technology acquired for estimating the temperature of remote planets.
31. The Portable Computer
The first portable computer, the Grid Compass, was applied on multiple shuttle missions in the 1980s.
Nicknamed SPOC or Shuttle Portable Onboard Computer, the computer could interact with onboard devices and launch satellites off space shuttles.
32. LEDs
It was intended for use to help grow plants aboard space shuttles.
NASA’s LED technology has been used to construct LED medical devices that relax muscles and reduce pain in cancer patients, soldiers, and those with Parkinson’s disease.
33. Ice-Resistant Airplanes
Ice is a real menace for shuttles in space. NASA has devised various electronic solutions to stop ice formation on spacecraft.
Some of which are now used on everyday commercial aircraft.
34. 3D Food Printing
With the creation and development of 3D food printers, the capability to cook food on long space missions is no longer impossible.
Furthermore, this technology is now being refined for commercial use to make chocolates and other pastries and to develop nutritious foods for diabetics and others with specific dietary needs.
35. Athletic Shoes
A shock-absorbent rubber molding intended for astronauts’ helmets inspired a standard feature in the soles of many modern athletic shoes.
36. Computer Mouse
While seeking a way to improve interaction with onboard computers and enable users to accomplish tasks like manipulating data, NASA and Stanford researchers produced the first mouse.
37. The Defecation System
Furthermore, on the Apollo Moon missions, the defecation system was just a little more than a tiny bag with a small hole and some adhesive around the rim.
It was so awkward to take an Apollo astronaut up to 45 minutes to finish the process.
There was a chance that the “waste material” could leave and soil other parts of the capsules inside.
So, the astronauts didn’t want to go to the bathroom any more than they had to.
After the Apollo, space toilets improved, and the astronauts could start using regular food.
Although freeze-dried foods weren’t developed specifically for Apollo astronauts, the technology changed the number of varieties available, as well as their flavor, texture, and presentation.
So, the fruit cocktails, for example, had to be reformulated so they wouldn’t be damaged when sealed in vacuum bags.
38. The Digital Fly-by-Wire
Neil Armstrong, Commander in Apollo 11, was an excellent pilot.
He had “the right stuff” to get NASA to the Moon and back.
But even a pilot of his ability couldn’t single-handedly manage the LM or the lunar module’s sixteen thrusters and two rocket engines.
The Apollo spacecraft was a significant demonstration of digital fly-by-wire technology instead of a manual system of cables, pulleys, and hydraulics connected to the pilot’s control stick and pedals.
In a digital fly-by-wire system, the Apollo pilot’s controls feed into a computer, which utilizes software to translate and process those commands into electrical signals.
They were transmitted to the parts that control the spacecraft’s movement.
So, the digital fly-by-wire technology has since eased steering commercial jets such as the Boeing 777.
Even the space shuttle, the Airbus 320, and a fleet of bombers and fighter jets.
In fact, the F-8 Crusader jet was the first to adopt the technology.
After all, NASA engineers recommended installing an analog fly-by-wire system in the plane in 1970.
39. NASA’s Fireproof Materials
Since three astronauts were killed in the Apollo 1 fire on Jan. 27, 1967, NASA was left figuring out how to make everything in the command module less combustible, including what the Apollo astronauts were wearing.
The NASA agency wanted something that wouldn’t melt or catch fire and insulate astronauts from flames’ extreme heat.
So, they found what was required in PBI or polybenzimidazole, a heat-resistant substance developed by Dr. Carl Shipp Marvel, a pioneer in synthetic materials.
After the Apollo 1 fire, the Celanese Corporation developed a fiber woven into the clothing beneath the Apollo astronaut’s entire outer shell’s spacesuits, providing an extra layer of protection.
But it has since been phased out.
Firefighting suits that contain polybenzimidazole or PBI are one primary market for the material these days.
And according to the producer, it’s effective for up to 1300 degrees.
So this invention started from Apollo, states Bill Lawson.
He is president of PBI Performance Products, spun off by Celanese and sold to investors in 2005.
40. Cooling Spacesuits
The Apollo spacesuits must be fully sealed to protect the astronauts from a hostile space environment, which also means they can get rather stuffy.
NASA obtained the right to use liquid cooling and ventilation garments in 1966.
The skintight spacesuits had 300 feet of tubing going along the outside and constantly running cooled water across the skin, drawing heat away from the astronaut’s bodies and helping them control their core body temperature.
Fifty-three years later, the design was made public.
It’s used to help people with MS or multiple sclerosis whose symptoms are worsened by heat.
41. Spring Tires
Spring Tires Originated From Lunar Rover. Driving on the lunar surface is way more intense than off-roading on the Earth.
Excessive temperature swings and unfiltered sunlight will destroy regular tires. Shards of scorched lava will tear them apart.
Furthermore, there’s six times less gravity; if you hit a Moonrock, it’ll send you flying.
What you will need is a tough tire. It is also stiff enough to support a lunar vehicle but squishy enough to roll right over the Moonrocks.
Therefore, Apollo engineers equipped the Lunar Roving Vehicle with airless tires.
They were composed of springy, woven steel wire like a piano or a guitar string.
These tires were on the lunar rovers that flew with Apollo 15, 16, and 17.
And then they were all forgotten for more than thirty years.
42. Integrated Circuits
The Apollo spacecraft needed compact, light, and powerful computers.
The MIT Instrumentation Lab and NASA made a daring decision.
They created the Apollo Guidance Computer with an assuring but relatively unproven technology.
The famous integrated circuit carried multiple transistors onto a single silicon chip.
So, the Apollo program didn’t find the microchip.
But it guaranteed a tremendous early market. By 1963, Project Apollo incorporated up to 60 percent of the US supply of chips.
For example, the US military installed chips in their Minuteman-II missiles.
Air Force and NASA forced companies like Fairchild Semiconductor to verify the chips’ reliability.
All this by subjecting them to intense temperatures, G-forces, and meticulous electrical and visual inspections.
And the result? Apollo’s program helped in part to quicken the silicon chip revolution at the pace foretold by G. Moore’s famous law about the accelerating speed of computing power.
We can only wonder what innovations from the effort to send people to other planets will affect earthlings 50 years after the first Mars walk.
Learn about the daring Apollo astronauts and their inspiring journey through the Apollo Program, from tragedy to triumph, by reading our article here.
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