Coffee at the Cosmo - July 15

Coffee at the Cosmo on Thursday, July 15, is entitled, “As Seen on NASA TV: NASA Sources for Spin-off Technologies.” It is at 9 a.m. at the Cosmosphere and is free and open to the public.

The ingenuity required to put a man on the moon resulted in numerous products we still use today. NASA engineers had to “think outside the box” in a major way. If you’re walking around with scratch-resistant lenses in your eyeglasses, have ever had an ultrasound or an MRI, used a TV satellite dish, benefited from Dopplar Radar, dressed your child in fire-retardant clothing, used a cordless power tool, or have a smoke detector hanging in your house you can thank the space program.

By the same token, some things associated with the space race were not actually a product of it. For example, Velcro was invented at the same time, and used extensively by NASA, but it was not developed by or for NASA.

Artifacts not currently on display will be used to illustrate the topic of spin-offs. You’ll have an opportunity for a close-up look after the presentation.

Coffee at the Cosmo is an ongoing series of free presentations at the Cosmosphere. It’s the third Thursday of every month at 9 a.m. and is always free. Enjoy coffee and pastries, meet new friends, and learn something new.