(Artifact label – 75 words)
Apollo Guidance Computer
c. 1965 MIT/Raytheon, United States
Developed by Eldon Hall at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and
manufactured by Raytheon, this is an engineering prototype of the computer
that guided the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) from lunar orbit
through its descent to the moon’s surface. It could also perform the
computations for a computer-piloted landing, but the astronauts usually took
over manual control for this critical procedure.
The Display and Keyboard Unit (DSKY), was designed for ease of in-flight
operation and was controlled by the astronauts with a verb/noun syntax
commands such as “display" + “velocity.”
Artifact Credit: Gift of Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, X37.81
Photo Caption: Eldon Hall testing the Apollo Guidance Computer, c. 1965
Photo Credit: Credit: MIT Archives
Memory: Magnetic core 2K (16-bit) words, read-only magnetic core 36K
Speed: Add/Multiply time: 23.4μsec./46.8μsec
Cost: unknown
Developed by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory under the direction of
Eldon Hall and manufactured by Raytheon, this is an engineering prototype of
the computer that guided the Apollo Spacecraft Command Module (CM) from
Earth orbit to the Moon and the CM’s return to Earth surface. It guided the
Lunar Module (LM) from lunar orbit through its descent to the moon’s surface
and return to rendezvous with the CM in lunar orbit. During the critical
landing procedure it accepted manual steering commands from the astronauts
to make a safe landing.