" The so-called space race first started in the 1950s as a pitched competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. As in all things during the Cold War, each superpower tried to outdo the other. By the 1960s, the United States was a bona fide space power, along with Russia. The space race instilled and embodied immense national pride in both nations and wsometimes even global pride among mankind. The 1969 lunar landing was indeed a giant leap for humanity. But what good did it really do? Not that much, honestly. The six NASA moon landings between 1969 and 1972 didn't directly improve anything tangibly. No magic source of perpetual energy was found. The lunar rocks did not yield the cure for the common cold or for any other earthly ailment. There was no breakthrough of any kind on earth that came from the moon landings. To be fair, some of the research and developmental work that went into making the moon landings happen did have some benefit in the real world. However, the most lasting and most recognized example of this has been a pen that can write upside down and under water. Infomercials and magazine ads still tout them as having flown into space . Can you think of anything else useful that we use regularly that came from the moon missions? I can't. The very fact that the moon missions were stopped after 1972 shows that there were little long-term benefits to be had from these missions."