What has NASA done for you?

*NASA or NAACP? *

There is controversy as to whether or not space exploration is worthy of
federal (tax payer) funding. Space exploration has helped to create many
medical advances among other more common household products that we take
for granted. Project Mercury
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/mercury/mercury.htm began
in 1958 and helped to develop blood pressure testers in order to make
sure that man's first orbit remained safe to his health. Scratch proof
eyeglass lenses were originally the glass coating for satellites to
protect them from floating space particles. Nitinol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitinol, the shape memory alloy, helps to
adhere braces to teeth. And we should not forget all of the things
telemetry has done for us; such as, allowing automatic monitoring for
alarm systems, oil rigs, chemical plants, cell phones, cameras, remote
radio broadcasts, and global positioning systems.

When most people wake up in the morning they will make something for
breakfast, pack a lunch, check their email and grab their Ipod, cell
phone or palm pilot. When they leave for work or school they will close
the garage door, pop in a CD and even look up maps on a screen in their
dash. All of this happens before even entering the technologically
enhanced office or school, thanks to NASA.

Yet some people have the gall to not appreciate NASA and ask, "What has
NASA done for me?" Well, the Tempur-Pedic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEMPUR bed you woke up on, the Tephlon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teflon coated pan you scrambled your eggs
in and the microwave you reheated your coffee in are direct results from
products invented by NASA. DuPont
http://www1.dupont.com/NASApp/dupontglobal/corp/index.jsp?page=/content/US/en_US/news/product/2005/pn07_11_05a.html
makes many of our daily used household products such as Ziploc bags,
refrigerants, oven mitts, bake ware, inhalers, and toothbrushes to name
very few of their products that were either derived from or used within
the space exploration programs. Even Velcro was first used in the space
shuttle and may be used to help save the current space expedition
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050803/NASA03/TPScience/.


Without NASA your cable would not come in digital or satellite nor would
you be able to check the weather across the country. Your email would
never work and your cell phone would be pointless. The remote would not
lower your garage door, your CD would not hold more than a song or two
and your advanced never-get-lost system would never have been created.
Your sandwich would be stale by lunchtime, your soda would be in a cup
and your insulated http://www.specprom.com/images/sm195/lnhsak.jpg
lunch bag would be brown and paper. We haven't even gotten through the
day and I think I have made my point. What has NASA done for you? Must
you really ask?