
A computer engineer has tracked down the first Apollo guidance computer - a_w
http://www.gadget.co.za/the-hacker-the-scrapheap-and-the-first-apollo-computer/
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sverige
There's so much more I want to know. Who put it on the trash heap? Why did the
FBI come looking for it years later? Embarrassment?

OTOH, back in those days, maybe there was more of a sense of pushing things
forward, and less nostalgia, and maybe that was a good thing. I can't decide
if I like having every speck of computer history catalogued and put in a
museum. For one thing, I fear that 50 years from now, people will cling to the
stories of the creators of Android or iOS or Pokemon Go, and somehow that old
Nokia flip phone I have in my junk box will be a museum piece.

Nostalgia. Can't live with it, can't live without it.

~~~
cooper12
The original footage of the moon landings was actually erased and recorded
over when NASA had a shortage of data tapes:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes).
So yeah there is definitely some pragmatism at NASA.

~~~
propogandist
it's as if they want you to forget what happened.

Let's just focus on a space station and travelling to the red planet we know
little about. What footprints on the moon?

~~~
cooper12
Only the original footage was lost. It was still broadcast to millions and
there are multiple recordings of these broadcasts. If you read the article
you'd find that NASA actually released a restored version of the footage. So
no, they don't want you to forget what happened. Lastly I know it's pretty hip
to be a conspiracy theorist, but there's a really good video rebutting common
claims for it being faked here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGXTF6bs1IU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGXTF6bs1IU)

~~~
nerdponx
I don't think he was implying that we never landed on the moon, just that the
NASA manned program's priorities today have a misguided set of priorities.
There was a scathing article posted about it last night

~~~
cooper12
I got a different impression from "What footprints on the moon?" At least to
me it doesn't make sense that NASA would want to forget one of humanity's
biggest achievements, especially considering what an accomplishment it was for
America during the space race. If you can still find the article it would be
great if you could link it so I can maybe get some missing context.

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codezero
Long ago I asked this question on quora, it got OK answers including one of my
own that's now deleted, but this post prompted me to check on it again and
it's now got a really great answer, check it out:
[https://www.quora.com/During-the-Apollo-launches-what-
happen...](https://www.quora.com/During-the-Apollo-launches-what-happened-
when-the-announcer-said-guidance-is-internal/answer/Dave-Mohr-1?share=1)

In particular I am happy about the timing. They accept inertial guidance to be
a bit off because transferring it closer to T=0 would make it less accurate
because of rocket vibrations!

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jkot
I would argue it was _first_ space flight guidance computer.

Technically nazis V1 had analog guidance computer and traveled in space. The
same with all later ballistic missiles etc.

Early soviet manned space flights (Vostok, Voschod) were fully automated, in
case pilot passes out. Americans did not had that until Apollo.

There was even 'password' login :-) [wiki, Vostok 1]

> _The entire mission would be controlled by either automatic systems or by
> ground control. This was because medical staff and spacecraft engineers were
> unsure how a human might react to weightlessness, and therefore it was
> decided to lock the pilot 's manual controls. In an unusual move, a code to
> unlock the controls was placed in an onboard envelope, for Gagarin's use in
> case of emergency.[7]:278 Prior to the flight, Kamanin and others told
> Gagarin the code anyway._

~~~
exDM69
Title is editorialized.

Even the US Gemini program had an on-board guidance computer before Apollo.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_Guidance_Computer](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_Guidance_Computer)

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sandworm101
In nasa's defense, outsiders probably don't realize exactly how much material
they were dealing with. This may be a treasured jewel today, but at the time
it was just part of the pile. I;m glad this was saved, but we cannot build a
museum around every bit if space hardware. SpaceX has their first recovered
rocket out front of their offices. In fifty years we might all be yelling at
them for keeping such a precious artifact out in the weather.

~~~
WalterBright
It's hard to know at the time what will be considered treasures. For example,
I've had a lot of computers over the years. I kept a bunch because I was sure
they'd be collectors' items.

Turns out, the only collectors' items turned out to be equipment I'd junked.
The ones I kept are all junk. Who knew my H-11 would become valuable? :-(

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astrodust
That this thing has surface-mount components on it shows you how crazy ahead
of its time it was. This is literally space-age technology in a world that was
barely using integrated circuits in consumer products.

I can't even imagine how much one of these modules cost to make at the time
they were produced. Tens of thousands surely.

~~~
jacquesm
This kind of component mounting was a fore-runner of larger scale integration.

Quite a bit of circuitry from those days was made like that.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_integrated_circuit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_integrated_circuit)

Excellent mechanical properties (esp. with respect to vibration resistance)
and more compact than the other mounting methods available at the time, it
seems to me to have been the obvious choice for anything on spacecraft or
aircraft.

~~~
astrodust
I mean more specifically the way the components are flush-mounted, not in the
standard DIP arrangement. They don't require holes drilled in the board, and
more importantly, don't penetrate the board itself, so components can be
mounted on both sides if necessary without risk of overlapping holes.

I can remember building computers in the early 1990s with logic boards that
looked more primitive than what was in this module from the 1960s.

Apparently surface mounting was developed _specifically for_ the Launch
Vehicle Digital Computer: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-
mount_technology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-mount_technology)

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nylsaar
Looking back to the past at the evolving technology exposes the intricacies of
genius.

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bogomipz
This is amazing. Does anybody care to speculate why the FBI cared or why it
would even be on their radar? In terms of technology this is ancient history.

One has to wonder how it ended up in a scrap auction. I would love to know the
provenance of that.

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chaostheory
Looking for feedback on our page for the AGC

[http://theymadethat.com/things/5ug/apollo-guidance-
computer](http://theymadethat.com/things/5ug/apollo-guidance-computer)

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dmead
would this even work? my understanding of rope memory was that the value
depended partially on the strength of magnets in a certain position in a
copper rope.

what happens when the magnet becomes deplolarized? isn't the only way to
ensure the bits he's got out are correct to actually inspect the copper
weaves? for all we know they were tossed in the trash because they were
defective

~~~
Frenchgeek
>what happens when the magnet becomes deplolarized?

I guess then you try the same thing floppy disk rescueing programs did : keep
attempting to read it until you have enough data to make a stastistically
significant bet. It should work pretty well since you get an analog value
encoding a digital one to start with.

~~~
dmead
I feel like there's a really good answer to this that doesn't involve taking
the thing apart, but I'm no EE.

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dboreham
Original article: [http://www.gadget.co.za/the-hacker-the-scrapheap-and-the-
fir...](http://www.gadget.co.za/the-hacker-the-scrapheap-and-the-first-apollo-
computer/)

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jeremyjh
If the post title matched that of the page title, it would be a true
statement. This was the first Apollo guidance computer, not the first space
flight guidance computer.

