[Cagey]

I still find it a bit hard to believe that some of the items were nasa-developed or offshoots of the space program - no one should just create such a list of items and processes without substantiating their claim.

Oh, they do all the time. How you could be flamed for having such common sense is beyond me. You don't have to go far in that list to see the "hyperbole", as an earlier poster described it. Winter Tires? As if the R&D departments at Goodrich and the other tire companies would not have developed them?

Thank God for Capitalism because that is what drives development, and not government agencies. I'm all for science and exploration but for NASA to PR us to death with this nonsense is ridiculous.

[BushCountry]

I am getting sick of this crap!

First, if NASA didn't prefect rocket technology and make its launch pads available there would not have been private industry satellites.

No satellites means very little private sector communication improvements, and no GPS. More people dead due to sevre weather! How many of you non-believers use satellite tv? Cell phones? GPSs?

Without NASA there would have been a much smaller advance in electronics (e.g. three-dimensional semiconductor package and microlasers). CCD chips! Geez, you guys ever heard of digital cameras? Medical equipment advancement! How many companies would have developed the highly profitable air quality monitors? NONE!

The funny thing is, the spinoffs are everyday household items, the clowns that protest these advancements and shrug that someone else would have done it, haven't a clue! They just take advantage of these technologies b^%tch and moan about them! Irony?

[solitas]

As if the R&D departments at Goodrich and the other tire companies would not have developed them?

hey- tires are used on the shuttles, therefore tires must have been developed for space exploration. There are seat coverings on the shuttle, therefore naugahyde was born. 10-32 x 1/4" buttonhead cres screws...light bulbs for indicators...ALUMINUM!...rubber for gaskets...the list is never ending (oh, yeah, and Tang®). :)