5 Common Household Items Invented By NASA

You may not suspect cordless vacuums to have anything to do with space, but in fact, they are a result of NASA’s need for cordless power tools. NASA wasn’t the inventor of cordless power tools; that was the work of a company named Black & Decker in the early ’60s. However, the company did work with NASA to test the creation of cordless power tools which could be used in space. As NASA explains, it worked with the company to make cordless tools that could operate in anti-gravity conditions. This allowed it to create a drill for the Apollo moon program, and it was used to gather samples. 

After this work with NASA, Black & Decker went on to create the cordless vacuum, also known as the Dustbuster, in 1979. The company’s collaboration with NASA inspired it to expand its business with more cordless tools, such as a multi-tool product that could operate as a drill, trimmer, and vacuum. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Black & Decker found through market research that 92% of women found the tool’s vacuum function specifically useful. Because of this, the company decided to create the Dustbuster cordless vacuum, which went on to generate $6 billion in sales for the company.