By Angela M. Gibson, Ed.D.,
Director, First Year Experience at American Public University
NASA is part of everyday life, even in this post-shuttle world NASA brings what would seem to be science fiction to today’s reality– space technology brought down to Earth.
Every day, people benefit from technology developed by NASA as part of the quest for innovation in flight and space travel. Through funding research and partnering with companies, technologies developed for uses in space now are used for practical purposes on Earth. Do you use a memory foam pillow? Do you have a dust buster? Have you ever eaten anything freeze-dried?
Many companies and organizations partner with NASA for spinoff product development. Speedo and NASA created better and faster swimsuits and NASCAR uses NASA technology for specialized radial tires, heat resistant paint, and oil-saving sealing gaskets.