One Giant Leap: Iconic and Inspiring Space Race Inventions That Shaped History

On July 20, 1969, Americans had their eyes and ears glued to their TVs and radios. NASA’s successful moon landing left the nation in awe. This moment inspired inventors and engineers across the nation. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing, we share with you 20 patents that were inspired by the space race and how they reshaped the world.

Featuring the original patent schematics from the US Patent and Trademark Office, blast off with the inventions inspired by the moon landing including:

• Memory foam
• Freeze-dried food
• Firefighting equipment
• Emergency "space blankets"
• DustBusters
• Cordless tools
• Protective paint (Used on both the Statue of Liberty, a gigantic Buddha in Hong Kong and the Golden Gate)
• Cochlear implants
• LZR Racer swimsuits
• CMOS image sensors
• Moon dust as fuel for space travel
• Carbon nanotubes
• Pocket calculators

Other patents in the book reflect the general surge in space-related inventions in that era:

• Dispersed space based laser weapon
• Toy ray guns
• Flying saucers
• Propulsion systems
• Lasers
• The modem
• Integrated circuit
• Astro Lamp (Later called the Lava Lamp)