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238,855 miles to go for a walk

During my youth, growing up in Alpena, I purchased my first transistor AM radio from Alpena Discount, which was located at the intersection of River Street and 3rd Avenue.

The store was adjacent to what was then the Frank Doan Ford Motor dealership.

During the day, my six-transistor radio pulled in Alpena and Rogers City stations, along with top-40 radio stations from Saginaw, Flint, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

During the night, I listened to Boston’s WBZ and Chicago’s WLS and WCFL.

My radio was a true product of America entering the space age.

In 1957, the then-Soviet Union launched its Sputnik satellite. At night, with others, I watched the satellite glimmer across the sky.

The U.S., under the leadership of NASA, followed with missions called Explorer, Pioneer, Mercury, Viking, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, the space shuttle, Magellan, Hubble, and Galileo.

In May 1961, before the U.S. Congress, President John F. Kennedy stated that, before the conclusion of the decade, America would land men on the lunar surface — 238,855 miles away.

Today, July 20, marks 53 years since astronaut Neil Armstrong stated at 10:56 p.m. from the moon’s surface, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

America and the world stood in awe.

I recall viewing, in black and white, Armstrong’s lunar walk on a television.

This event may seem like ancient history to many.

However, through NASA’s research and development, along with the nation’s business and industry, numerous space-age inventions affect our daily lives.

Here is a list profiling some of these inventions:

∫ Medicine and health care: artificial limbs, insulin pump, invisible dental braces, scratch resistant eye lenses, device for LASIK eye surgery, infrared ear thermometers, and the ventricular assist heart pump.

∫ Everyday living: Dust Buster, solar cells, camera phones, memory foam for sleeping, seating, and athletic shoe soles, Mylar for warming blankets and party balloons, the smoke detector, remote control ovens, air purifier, and cordless tools.

∫ Food: baby formula, freeze-dried food, water filtration system, U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved devices to avoid food poisoning, and, of course, instant Tang breakfast drink.

∫ Information technology: portable computer, computer mouse, wireless headset, enhanced videotaping, long-distance telecommunications, and weather forecasting.

∫ Air transportation: anti-icing system, improved radial tires, and grooved pavement all for flight landings

For an interesting and detailed profile of NASA-related inventions and devices created in Michigan and other states, visit spinoff.nasa.gov.

Should you be traveling on I-75, consider exiting at Wapakoneta, Ohio, Neil Armstrong’s birthplace. There, you can enjoy the informative Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum. Moon rocks and all.

Next stop: the planet Mars, with all sorts of unique items to be invented along the way.

Jeffrey D. Brasie is a retired health care CEO and frequently writes op-eds and feature stories. He is a former Alpena resident and resides in suburban Detroit and is a U.S. Navy and U.S. Navy Reserve veteran.

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