When venturing into the dangers of space, the technology needed to survive the uninhabitable conditions must be extremely advanced. Some of the most ingenious engineers have successfully developed the technology into life-saving and improved medical devices. The new devices and advanced knowledge have become even more important to the space program recently due to the ongoing criticism of its existence. In the beginning years of the space program, little of the attention was focused on medical benefits; most of the support from the public came from the “space race” (Rutz 2).

The space program has also been extremely helpful with the early diagnosing of medical complications. One example of the imaging technology comes from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “An estimated 44 million adults aged 50 years and older” have probable risk of contracting “osteoporosis and low bone mass” (“Battling Brittle Bones” 1). The “accuDEXA Bone Mineral Density Assessment System,” which was made from NASA technology, only uses one percent of an older system’s energy, and the system weighs less (“Battling Brittle Bones” 1). Having such a light weight and low energy consumptions allowed NASA to use the system in space to monitor astronauts. NASA also developed a tool that is capable of monitoring an unborn fetus. The condition of these unborn babies is capable of being monitored by transmitters that were originally used to measure the temperature and pressure of an astronaut’s blood (Malick 2). Even the internal images of humans are possible because of technology NASA derived to enhance pictures from outer space (“Inventions from Space” 1). Thanks to the space program’s imaging technology, millions of people can be examined quickly, painlessly, and thoroughly.

The direct spinoffs of the space program have led to many of the most convenient tools and luxuries of life. When building a machine that is capable of flying at extremely high speeds into space and still be able to return with humans onboard, the numbers of components onboard are countless. To keep track of these millions of parts, NASA developed a bar coding system that is now used in almost all stores to keep track and instantly change prices on products (“Inventions from Space” 1). Human work life and home life have also been improved by the use of computers. However, during the 1950’s, computers were size of a house, but traveling into space required a much smaller computer that NASA made by finding a “microprocessor” created by Intel and Fairchild (“Why Have Space Program” 2). NASA produced an extremely convenient development when they needed power tools. However, NASA needed to use these tools on the surface of the moon. NASA then developed battery powered tools that originally needed to be plugged in but could now be used portably to drill samples out of the surface of the moon (“Space Benefits” 4). Although average people may not feel similar to astronauts when using space-derived tools, the tools were originally intended for astronauts.

The human desire to explore the unknown has led to greater knowledge, technology and new lands. Our history has proven this over and over in the past. When the early Neanderthals left the frozen tundra, they did not

Some topics in this essay:
Richard Land, Space Program”, George Delucas, Assist Pump”, Brittle Bones”, Flight Center, Exploration Vital”, Carolina Apollo, Earth” Lovell, Sara Moody, space program, nasa developed, space exploration, “inventions space”, assist pump” 1, federal budget, apollo 11, knowledge technology, assist pump”, “space benefits”, surface moon, “heart assist pump”, spent space program, money spent space, “battling brittle bones”,