Depressed

[melchar]

So the manned space program dies. The replacement programs have died thru neglect. The science-fearing majority of politicians win again. No doubt they are rubbing their forepaws together in glee at helping to insure that the US slips closer to 3rd world status. Soon, all that will be left here are unskilled and food service jobs.

Comments

[howeird]

Microwave ovens? LOL. The Radar Range came out in the 1950's. http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/microwave.htm

Teflon? ROFL. Dupont patented that around the end of WWII
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Teflon/Teflon-HistoryDuPont.htm

Tang? Close but no cigar - it was first marketed in 1957, and I was drinking it as a kid before NASA had any manned spacecraft. Yes, they did drink it on Gemini, and the ads about that boosted sales, but it was not a product of the space program.
http://heliopoli.com/2007/12/02/tang-a-correlative-history/

Few of the advances of modern technology made it into space. The computers on the shuttle are so laughable that astronauts brought laptops on board for the last several missions.

And that's a big reason the program was dropped. 40-year-old designs flying for 30 years.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

From what I have read [and the tang/teflon thing - was 'learned' in school] the manned space program led to the push for miniturization of components, transitors to microchips, thus shrinking tech like computers and microwave ovens down to sizes that could be commerically sold to the consumer market.