Beyond the Launchpad: NASA's Engineering Lives On in Everyday Design

Some of the most useful work to come out of America's space agency never left the ground. The Collector has counted eight inventions from NASA's laboratories that went on to shape ordinary life, well past the launch vehicles and capsules most people picture when they think of the agency. For readers who follow design and how things are made, this is a reminder that some of the country's most influential industrial work came from engineers who were never designing for a showroom. It was made in the United States, and its reach turned out to be far wider than the missions it was built for.

With reporting from The Collector.