If you were expecting me to say "Teflon" or "Velcro", don't expect me to bite.
However, high speed digital communications, one technology that I'm intimately familiar with, has direct ties to NASA technology from the Apollo program, along with many other advances in electronics technology. Advances, often rapid advances, in this area of technology were undoubtedly driven by the space program of the 1960's. Texas Instruments is a prime example. Motorola, too. The cell phone you probably use every day has it's roots in the heady days of the Apollo program. Those innovations in electronics and electrical engineering are far too numerous to begin to mention them all here, but those are good examples. Others include fluid pumping technologies on microscopic to Olympic sized swimming pool scale. As a result, major contributions to medical science and materials science needed to develop the systems of the Apollo project were also gained, either by the invention of new science and materials, or by bringing existing, little known science and materials into the mainstream of everyday life. The number of engineers alone in my generation that were produced after Apollo, myself included, are directly attributable to being inspired by the Apollo program as a child. I recall when I was an undergrad at Ga. Tech. One of my first engineering classes the professor asked the class how many people were there because they were fans of the space program. Nearly every hand in the class went up. This was in the early 1980's.
Look up "NASA Spinoffs" for more info.
Robert Heinlein once testified before Congress that a near-fatal neurological problem he had suffered had been treated with several technologies that existed soley because of the space program. CAT and telemetry were among them. Telemetry is obvious, CAT was developed for NDI of spacecraft parts.
My brother’s life was saved by CAT after an auto accident. He was outside the golden hour and should have been dead at 18. Today he lives a happy and productive life, and pays taxes.
And here’s the best part: The Apollo Program cost each American 5 cents per day. Meanwhile, we pay 28 cents per dollar spent on welfare in administration costs, and that’s if we assume that spending the other 72 percent is a good value...and we know it’s quite the opposite.
Senator Proxmire, go back to the grave, and take your dairy price supports with you.