13 Mainstream Products Originally Invented for Space Travel

10. Calculators and PCs Thanks to NASA, the adding machine went the way of the saber-tooth tiger. As with the videocamera, electronic components had to be shrunk in order to fit in those tiny space ships and be able to perform multiple calculating tasks regarding trajectory, life support, fuel burn, and so on. IBM achieved its greatest success in 1966 for the two-man Gemini 11 flight, with a computer the size of a shoebox. Those same chips became the basis for pocket calculators and, later, personal computers.