We've got 4 ordinary people in space on a SpaceX capsule.
I recently re-read slices of 'One Giant Leap' to get ready for a podcast.
Space travel is hard, but it was really hard in 1969.
Amazing what you 'forget' about your own work.
—>
fastcompany.com/90357215/your-…
I recently re-read slices of 'One Giant Leap' to get ready for a podcast.
Space travel is hard, but it was really hard in 1969.
Amazing what you 'forget' about your own work.
—>
fastcompany.com/90357215/your-…
2/ Tidbit #1: On Apollo 11, Armstrong & Aldrin spent 2-1/2 hours Moon walking.
They ended up so covered in Moon dirt, & found the dirt so irritating, they spent their one night on the Moon sleeping in their helmets & gloves to avoid the regolith (p.xiv).
amazon.com/One-Giant-Leap…
They ended up so covered in Moon dirt, & found the dirt so irritating, they spent their one night on the Moon sleeping in their helmets & gloves to avoid the regolith (p.xiv).
amazon.com/One-Giant-Leap…
3/ MIT won the contract to design the spaceship computers for Apollo, and then to write the software for them, and supervise their construction.
Apollo's computers were the fastest, most nimble computers ever created.
But MIT itself ran out of computing power to program them.
Apollo's computers were the fastest, most nimble computers ever created.
But MIT itself ran out of computing power to program them.
4/ In the mid-1960s, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology didn't have enough technology to write the software for the Apollo missions.
Its computers weren't 'real time'—they used punch cards. Jobs backed up for hours or days.
fastcompany.com/90362562/this-…
Its computers weren't 'real time'—they used punch cards. Jobs backed up for hours or days.
fastcompany.com/90362562/this-…
5/ MIT's lack of computing capacity was actually a limiting factor in getting to the Moon — it could have ended up delaying the first Apollo landing.
In 1966, MIT's programmers relied on two Honeywell 1600s. An IBM 360 was added the next year (p. 154).
amazon.com/One-Giant-Leap…
In 1966, MIT's programmers relied on two Honeywell 1600s. An IBM 360 was added the next year (p. 154).
amazon.com/One-Giant-Leap…
6/ We live in a world of real-time computing all day, every day.
But the 1st real-time computers for general use—where you punched in commands & got your answer instantly—those were the Apollo spacecraft computers.
Even the people designing them didn't have real-time computers.
But the 1st real-time computers for general use—where you punched in commands & got your answer instantly—those were the Apollo spacecraft computers.
Even the people designing them didn't have real-time computers.
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