Many people see space exploration as a waste of resources. Of course, there is the counterargument that scientific discoveries have intrinsic cultural value, that space-related initiatives often boost international cooperation, or that the space sector has crucial technological and economic importance.

But the most effective argument might simply be to point to the plethora of everyday items that would not exist without space research. NASA Spinoff—a section of the US space agency’s technology transfer program—compiles just about every commercial technology that has originated in US space research. It reveals that no space program has had a greater impact on everyday life than the Apollo lunar missions.