Fifty Years of Apollo 11 Technologies on Earth

When NASA astronauts took one small step on the surface of the Moon in 1969, the feat resulted in a giant leap forward in innovations for humanity. The many challenges NASA overcame on the way to the lunar surface led the agency and its partners to devise new inventions and techniques that spread into public life, and we are still reaping the benefits of those technology developments today. This NASA video celebrates the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and highlights some of these technologies. Tech Briefs spoke with Daniel Coleman, editor of NASA’s annual Spinoff magazine, about the most significant spinoff technologies from the Apollo 11 mission. Read the full interview here.

Transcript

00:00:04 Altitude-velocity light. 3 1/2 down, 220 feet, 13 forward All engine running. Liftoff, we have a liftoff on Apollo 11. Inaudible communication And this is exploration at it's greatest. This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal of landing a man on the moon, and returning him safely to the earth. Okay, Houston. As I stand out here in the wonders of the unknown at Hadley, I sort of realize there’s a fundamental truth to our nature. Man must explore.