Space Technology Hall of Fame

Induction Year 1988

Sewage Treatment With Water Hyacinths

For more than a decade, NASA’s laboratories conducted research on the use of water hyacinths for treating and recycling wastewater for application in space colonies and long duration manned space flights of the future. Researchers discovered that water hyacinths thrive on sewage by absorbing and digesting nutrients and minerals from wastewater. Thus a means of…

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Programmable Implantable Medication System

Inducted In: 1988, Health, Medicine

A family of biomedical implantable devices have been developed over the past decade which are based on a wide array of space technologies, including battery advances, miniaturized circuitry, digital telemetry, and electronic sensing systems. The initial device was the rechargeable cardiac pacemaker, but many more continue to be developed that significantly aid health maintenance. A…

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Power Factor Controller

NASA Image of Power Factor Controller
Inducted In: 1988, Transportation

Millions of alternating current motors are in use throughout industry and in consumer products. Much of the power they consume, however, is wasted because electricity is fed to homes and factories at a fixed voltage level which is not required constantly by motor-driven devices and equipment, especially when in an idling mode. The cumulative power…

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NASA Structural Analysis Computer Software

NASA Image of Bell Helicopter
Inducted In: 1988, Computer Technology

In the early years of the space program, it took thousands of man-hours and months to analyze and solve structural problems in the design of aircraft and space vehicles using conventional mathematical methods. Today designers and engineers are able to analyze and solve thousands of structural problems in a matter of hours. An extremely complex…

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Improved Firefighter’s Breathing System

NASA Image of Improved Firefighter's Breathing System
Inducted In: 1988, Featured, Health, Public Safety

In the early 1970s, the Johnson Space Center (JSC) undertook to adapt and apply technology developed for portable life support used by Apollo astronauts on the moon in a significant effort to improve firefighter breathing systems. This effort was in response to a need expressed by many of the nation’s fire chiefs. What emerged four…

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