Satellites were a very important part of the space race and still are today. There are different functions for each satellite. Some are for television networks while others can save lives and predict the weather. Satellites are used every day to help with navigation and positioning systems. Over two thousand five hundred satellites have been sent into space and about a thousand are still operational. NASA, during the space race, was responsible for creating complex software, computer networks, and communications equipment. All these technologies are useful for our daily lives today. The healthcare industry has benefited because technologies invented during the space race paved the way for MRI technology and CAT scans. Simple, everyday items like cordless tools and smoke detectors were first invented and produced by NASA to help astronauts. Robotic and controller technologies were needed to assist in spacecraft functions. The space race is also responsible for major innovations like water filters. Due to the lack of water in space, astronauts needed a way to safely recycle their wastewater. In the 1980s, NASA returned to human spaceflight with the Space Shuttle. The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft and was based on the X-15 aircraft designed and tested in the 1960s. Advances in aerodynamic knowledge paved the way for the large, efficient commercial airplanes we see every day today. The Space Shuttle's large payload bay allowed large satellites and telescopes to be launched into orbit and repaired if necessary. The Russian MIR space station and the international one...... middle of paper...... 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. American society had finally accomplished the impossible. The space race was very beneficial to the world because it not only improved technology but also improved education. In 1963 the United States had a congressional mandate to increase investment in science and mathematics education, and it did so because it wanted to increase basic knowledge of certain fields of science. In just a few years it has created enormous progress in understanding the Sun, Earth, near space, electronics, energy sources, and data collection. The success of Sputnik I gave a wake-up call to most Americans. Parents started making their children attend higher science courses and instead of giving toy cars, they gave their children chemistry sets. Baby boomer families began purchasing educational toys such as telescopes and microscopes.