Code developed by Margaret Hamilton, who led the development of the onboard flight software for the Apollo missions at the MIT Instrumentation Lab, was “good — so good, in fact, that it very well might have saved the entire Apollo 11 mission,” writes Dylan Matthews for Vox.
Writing for The Boston Globe, Shirley Leung spotlights the thousands of women who helped make the Apollo 11 mission a success, including Margaret Hamilton and Saydean Zeldin of the MIT Instrumentation Lab. Zeldin, who worked on the program responsible for turning the command module’s engines on and off, recalls that she “had to formulate the equations that we were going to code.”
CBS News reporter Norah O’Donnell explores how Margaret Hamilton, who led the development of the onboard flight software for the Apollo missions, was “critical to the success of the Apollo 11 mission.” Hamilton explains that, “It was the first time man walked on the moon and the first time software ran on the moon.”
CBS News reporter William Harwood spotlights the Apollo 11 astronauts who made history by successfully completing the first landing on the moon, including Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, who “earned a Ph.D. in orbital mechanics from MIT and helped perfect the rendezvous techniques needed by Apollo crews.”
Margaret Hamilton, who led the development of the onboard flight software for the Apollo missions at MIT, speaks with Guardian reporter Zoë Corbyn about her trailblazing work in computing. When asked her advice for young women interested in computer programming, Hamilton says, “Don’t let fear get in the way and don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” or “I don’t understand” – no question is a dumb question.”
Boston Globe reporter Hiawatha Bray explores how MIT Instrumentation Lab researchers helped pave the way for the Apollo 11 moon landing. Bray notes Instrumentation Lab researchers “developed one of its most vital components: the guidance and navigation systems that directed the Apollo command and landing crafts to — and onto — the moon.”
Smithsonian reporters Abigail Croll and Maddi Hellmich spotlight Margaret Hamilton’s work developing the coding used in the Apollo 11 onboard flight software and lunar landing machinery. “Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust,” says Hamilton. “Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers."
Writing for PBS’ American Experience about the women who helped ensure the success of the Apollo 11 mission, Nathalia Holt highlights the work of Margaret Hamilton, who led the development of software for the Apollo missions while at MIT.
WCVB-TV’s Chronicle spotlights how researchers at the MIT Instrumentation Lab developed the technology needed to successfully bring Apollo astronauts to the moon.
John Steele Gordon writes for The Wall Street Journal about the history of census taking, which was aided by an electromechanical tabulating machine invented by MIT Prof. Herman Hollerith in 1899. “The Census Office immediately adopted the technology and was able to announce the total population in 1890 a mere six weeks after the count,” writes Gordon.
Wired reporter Stephen Witt highlights how researchers at the MIT Instrumentation Lab programmed the Apollo 11 computer, which enabled astronauts to successfully walk on the moon. Witt writes that perhaps the Apollo program’s “true legacy is etched not in moondust but in silicon.”
Fast Company contributor Charles Fishman explores the late Prof. Charles Draper’s instrumental contributions to making space flight possible, noting that Draper was so committed to his work that he volunteered to train as an astronaut so he could join an Apollo mission. “Space travel wouldn’t have been possible without Draper’s work and that of his group at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab,” writes Fishman.
Fast Company contributor Charles Fishman speaks with Margaret Hamilton about her work at MIT on the development of software for the Apollo missions. Hamilton, who is often credited with popularizing the term software engineering explains that, “Software during the early days of (Apollo) was treated like a stepchild and not taken as seriously as other engineering disciplines, such as hardware engineering.”
In an article for Fast Company, Charles Fishman explores how MIT researchers pioneered the use of integrated circuits, technology that is an integral component of today’s digital technologies, in the Apollo 11 computer. “MIT, NASA, and the race to the Moon laid the very foundation of the digital revolution, of the world we all live in,” writes Fishman.
Writing for Fast Company, Charles Fishman explores how MIT researchers developed the computer that helped enable the Apollo 11 moon landing. Fishman notes that the computer was “the smallest, fastest, most nimble, and most reliable computer ever created,” adding that it became “so indispensable that some at MIT and NASA called it ‘the fourth crew member.’”