10 products we use in everyday life that wouldn't exist without NASA

Alyssa Powell/Business Insider

• NASA was the force behind many product development innovations that you might take for granted.
• The research used to develop and improve space suits, time-keeping systems, temperature measurements, and other space-related needs is often later adapted for consumer use.
• Products like running sneakers, scratch-resistant glasses, and hairstyling irons all owe their success to the work of NASA scientists and researchers.

If you weren't obsessed enough already with the work that NASA does to advance our knowledge of space, here's another reason: its research has a large number of applications beyond space suits and shuttles.

Though the science it engages with can seem nebulously complicated, it's really all around us in the products we use every day. Technology originally developed to support the nation's astronauts is often later adapted for consumer use. If you take a closer look around your house and closet on Earth, it doesn't take long to come across something that was also employed by astronauts floating in space hundreds of thousands of miles away.

Knowing the historical origins of these everyday products certainly helps us appreciate innovations that we previously took for granted.

You have NASA research to thank for these 10 popular products:

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