But what consumers really want is technology,

the latest home appliances,

the latest entertainment technology.

There are barely 2 million VCRs in 1980.

Over 63 million by 1990.

From a few thousand cell phones,

by the end of the decade there are over 5 million.

Your first pocket knife,your first bicycle,your first car,

today, you know, your first cell phone,your first laptop,

all these are badges of gaining control over your world,

of having, being able to live life better

because you have a better tool, and the skill to use it.

That's something that's deeply appealing to the American psyche.

But many of these consumer technology advances are developed directly from the biggest spending spree of all:

the Space Race.

The Cold War with the Soviet Union is still going strong.

Laying out across the globe and the final frontier.

By the end of the Cold War, 7 trillion dollars has been spent keeping America ahead of her communist rival.

The result,one of the most sophisticated and daring spacecraft ever built:

The space shuttle.

The space shuttle was a beautiful idea.

It was an elegant craft,that would be more efficient, more economical

because it could take off and land and be reuseable.

and lift off.

The shuttle adds to America's consumer boom.

One of its primary functions is to launch communication satellites,

helping expand America's ever growing appetite

for entertainment, communications, telephones and GPS.

And the technology that goes into the shuttle also comes back to earth.

Cell phones, water purification,airplane landing gear, fire fighting equipment.

Cordless power tools, medical tech,and even ski wear.

All benefited from the shuttle program.

For many, the shuttle is symbolic of the American story.