Satellites played a very important role in the space race and still do 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 daily to facilitate navigation and positioning systems. More than two thousand five hundred satellites have been sent into space and around 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 beneficial to our daily lives today. The healthcare industry benefited as technologies invented during the space race paved the way for magnetic resonance imaging technology and CT scans. Simple everyday items, like cordless tools and smoke detectors, were invented and first manufactured by NASA to help astronauts. Robotic technologies and controllers were needed to facilitate the spacecraft's functions. The Space Race is also responsible for great innovations like water filters. Due to the lack of water in space, astronauts needed a way to safely recycle their waste water. In the 1980s, NASA resumed human spaceflight with the Space Shuttle. The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft and was based on the X-15 spacecraft designed and tested in the 1960s. Advances in aerodynamic knowledge paved the way for the large, efficient commercial aircraft that we let's see each day today. The space shuttle's large cargo bay allowed large satellites and telescopes to be placed in orbit and repaired if necessary. The Russian Space Station MIR and the International...... middle of paper ...... December 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 it also improved education. In 1963, the US Congress mandated increased investment in science and mathematics education because they wanted to increase basic knowledge in certain scientific fields. In just a few years, this has led to enormous advances in understanding the Sun, Earth, near space, electronics, energy sources and data collection. The success of Sputnik I raised alarm bells for most Americans. Parents started putting their kids in higher science classes and instead of giving them toy cars, they gave their kids chemistry sets. Baby boomer families began buying educational toys like telescopes and microscopes..