Memory Foam Space Age Spin Off

Over forty years ago Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Ten years after that momentous stroll, the world’s best-known astronaut tore his ring finger off
in an accident on his farm in Ohio.

Being a man constructed of the right stuff, he calmly packed the finger in ice and took it to hospital where it was sewn back on by micro-surgeons.

But suppose the accident had happened in space? And what if the mild heart attack Commander Armstrong suffered in 1991 had occurred in the lunar module?

Such concerns have driven the development of ‘space medicine’ which, in tandem with the
technological and scientific advances needed to get someone on the moon, has spawned scores of spin-offs that are benefiting people who prefer to keep their feet firmly on the ground.

Some spin-offs have high-tech roots but everyday applications.
‘Memory’ foam, the plastic that eases the repose of many patients, was developed to reduce the impact of gravitational forces on NASA's pilots and astronauts.