To deal with the problem of quality and dependability, those in charge of the space program emphasized the need for testing industrial products. Many companies that had to develop tests for the space program also manufactured products for use on earth, such as cars and planes. Since some parts are used both in space systems and in products for ordinary life, the emphasis on quality had spread through American industry. Many products are now more reliable than they might have been if men had not been sent to the moon.
In addition to improving the quality of existing products, the space program has been responsible for the development and improvement of new ones. The most important is the computer. To bring the endangered Apollo 13 home safely in 1970, a new flight plan had to be made taking account of an unbelievably complex combination of elements. The computer accomplished this task in seventy-two minutes, whereas a man or a woman working with pencil and paper would have taken more than a million years! If there had been no space program, it is doubtful that computers would now be so widely used in industry and government. More than 800, 000 people in the United States are now employed in jobs related to computers: it is a field in which some of the highest salaries are paid.
Thousands of other new products and processes are now found in industry as the result of space research. Among them are metal alloys, long-wearing paints, plastics, and new types of glue and other adhesives , as well as new industrial tools. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has a special program called Technology Utilization to speed the transfer of new ideas from the space program to commerce and industry. The U. S. Department of Commerce makes reports on this information available to organizations abroad.
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