If you google "space program" plus "products," you'll get lots of hits. Here's one, for example (I hope this won't be considered advertising. I'm just using it as an example):
Just ask companies that have benefited in space marketing efforts like X-1R® or TemperPedic®, two great examples of brands and products that have been built heavily depending on the value of the space seal for differentiation.
When NASA came to X-1R® to develop an environmentally friendly bio-degradable hydraulic fluid for the giant crawlers that transports the Space Shuttle, a new base product with new technology was born. Today, X-1R® has expanded products based on this technology from race car lubricants to basics for a child's bicycle or sportsman's fishing products. Using the Certification Seal as a point of differentiation from the industry, the marketing has paid off big. A small company has successfully taken on the giants!
TemperPedic® is another example of a firm with space technology; delivering a unique foam-based product for the comfort of the astronauts. The vast number of products resulting has clearly led their industry in new comfort - all because of space. The consumer has the assurance that the technology is genuine, and there is a real difference in the end product!
I'm all for practical applications, but the biggest benefit is that of expanded knowledge of space itself. Unquestionably awe-inspiring.
