“Many say exploration is part of our destiny, but it's actually our duty to future generations and their quest to ensure the survival of the human species.”
Buzz Aldrin
Top2. Apollo Mission Benefits
The Apollo program started in 1963 and finished in 1972. During this period six successful Moon landings (i.e. Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16 and Apollo 17) were performed. These missions brought back lunar samples and resulted in scientific and technology benefits. For example, as a result of the Apollo missions more than 1,500 spin-offs were developed from the space technology developed (Greene, 2008). Many of these spin-offs became important to our day-to-day lives, such as scratch resistant lenses, lunar boots, kidney dialysis machines, water purification technology, dry lubricant and fire resistant materials as presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Spin-offs products from the Apollo missions (Stenger, 2003; NASA, 2008; Greene, 2008)
| Day-to- day applications | Healthcare | Industrial Processes |
| Scratch-resistant lenses for sun-glasses | Kidney Dialysis Machines | Cordless tools- drills, dust vacuums |
| Lunar boots | Hospital monitoring equipment | Water purification technology |
| Freeze-dried food | Cool suits | Insulation barriers |
| Athletic Shoe Design | | Process for bonding dry lubricant to space metals |
| Thin, light, flexible, yet durable and non-combustible fabric | | Digital signal-processing techniques part of CAR and MRI |
| | Vacuum metallizing techniques |
| | Flame-Resistant Textiles |