Fastcompany published a similar article about the 4th crew member of Apollo 11 a few weeks ago. I shared it on HN but it did not get any traction.
Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
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Re: Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
#12Kind of off topic, but for those interested, this reminded me of the public repo on github which has the original guidance computer source code for the command and lunar modules[0].
Re: Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
#13I recently started listening to a fantastic podcast called 13 Minutes To The Moon[0] produced by the BBC. It’s a retelling of the last 13 minutes until the Apollo 11 lander touched down. Episode 2 talked about the software and the 1202 program code. They interviewed the Guidance controller who was only 26 at the time and talked about how the average age of the flight controllers was 27. I thought that was incredible, you don’t see that much responsibility placed in such junior people anymore.
Re: Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
#14I recently started listening to a fantastic podcast called 13 Minutes To The Moon[0] produced by the BBC. It’s a retelling of the last 13 minutes until the Apollo 11 lander touched down. Episode 2 talked about the software and the 1202 program code. They interviewed the Guidance controller who was only 26 at the time and talked about how the average age of the flight controllers was 27. I thought that was incredible,…
"you don’t see that much responsibility placed in such junior people anymore"
Sure you do, typically in new industries, like internet companies today, or space in the 60s.
Eventually the unicorns will be manned by aging suits, and JavaScript will be the new Cobol, and the hip young things will think vowels in names are actually kinda cool.
Re: Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
#15I've been listening to "13 minutes to the Moon" from the BBC recently. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48232627
One part jumped out at me as brilliant especially for the time: when the computer was overloaded with tasks during the decent, it switched off all non-essential extras like screen displays in order to free up processing power. After that it shed even more to focus on only plotting the landing!
Re: Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
#16> MIT received the first major Apollo contract, the only one awarded to a university, and the only one given without competitive bidding. Do these kinds of mission-critical components generally go to the lowest bidder?
Competitive bid doesn't have to mean lowest bidder. I've put tons of (non-government) projects out for bid because you're usually expected to do so to keep everyone relatively honest. I imagine the MIT Instrumentation Lab were the only people with the inertial guidance expertise at that time.
"Competitive bid doesn't have to mean lowest bidder"
No you have to wine and dine the right people, and line a job up for them when they retire.
Re: Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
#17I recently started listening to a fantastic podcast called 13 Minutes To The Moon[0] produced by the BBC. It’s a retelling of the last 13 minutes until the Apollo 11 lander touched down. Episode 2 talked about the software and the 1202 program code. They interviewed the Guidance controller who was only 26 at the time and talked about how the average age of the flight controllers was 27. I thought that was incredible,…
It's a really good podcast, but I found it a bit bloated in places, I could have done without the Hans Zimmer theme, of which they are so inordinately proud.
Re: Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
#18CuriousMarc's Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) restoration is a must-watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KSahAoOLdU&list=PL-_93BVApb...
I’ll second that. I particularly liked the part on home the memory worked
Re: Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
#19"The Charming Genius of the Apollo Guidance Computer" is a wonderful talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY45YE7ggng
The AGC implemented a virtual machine to run higher-level computational routines. The whole architecture is really interesting.
Re: Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
#20I recently started listening to a fantastic podcast called 13 Minutes To The Moon[0] produced by the BBC. It’s a retelling of the last 13 minutes until the Apollo 11 lander touched down. Episode 2 talked about the software and the 1202 program code. They interviewed the Guidance controller who was only 26 at the time and talked about how the average age of the flight controllers was 27. I thought that was incredible,…
The American and Canadian military are significant examples where many organizations are 'run' by people under 30. Yes, most field-grade and general officers, and senior NCOs are over 35. But, for example, the day-to-day decisions of logistics and tactics and technological is done by people between 19 and 27, by junior enlisted and company-grade officers.
I have never had as much responsibility an operational control over my job, in both fiscal and mission terms, as I had between the ages of 19 and 23 while in the military.