News19,135 Articles

July 20, 2009

The 10 best technologies from Apollo 11

What the moon landing did for us

Keith Shaw

PAGE 2

It's been 40 years since Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins launched into space in Apollo 11, with the historic moon landing occurring four days later exactly 40 years ago today. Here are our favourite technologies inspired by the space programme.

Memory foam

Memory foam: Developed in 1966 to help absorb shock and used in NASA's airplane seats, temper foam has been used in everything from football helmets, hospital beds and shoe insoles.

Even specialised "memory foam" pillows and mattresses use this technology these days.

Gadget reviews and home entertainment technology advice

Cordless tools

Cordless tools: While NASA didn't invent the Dustbuster, it can trace its origin to a battery-powered lunar drill developed by Black & Decker for the Apollo programme.

Similar technology can be found in cordless power drills and screwdrivers used every day to fix things around the house.

NEXT PAGE: flame-resistant clothing and cooling suits

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Comments received


Paul Urban said on Thursday, 23 July 2009

WTF is Tang? Is it tango?

Si said on Thursday, 23 July 2009

Tang is like orange squash but in powder form

Truely disgusting.

dragon said on Thursday, 23 July 2009

Tang is just like the lemonade and orangeade powders we had as children - she says showing her age. A subtle concoction of sugar, artificial colouring, and artificial flavouring, it was truly dreadful when mixed with water. Most of us licked it off a damp finger straight from the bag. It was sold loose from a sweet jar. 2oz at a time was the normalpurchase. Getting the yellow or orange stain off your finger afterwards required the services of a pumice stone. Bear in mind this was just after WW2,and there wasn't much fresh fruit, sugar or sweets about. Rationing was still in force.

Paul Urban said on Thursday, 23 July 2009

Was this on sale in the UK? I grew up in the 70's and have never heard of it.

Si said on Friday, 24 July 2009

I've never seen it in the UK, only on my travels to Asia.

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