"Moon Machines" on Science channel - OUTSTANDING!

mikea

mikea

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Leaving old Season Passes on my trusty Tivo has paid off.

The Science Channel rearn "Moon Machiens." WHAT A GREAT DOCUMENTARY SERIES!

They go into how Playtex got the space suit contract, how Grumman built the Lunar Lander, and for us compu-geeks how for the first time a crew from MIT had to come up with a new thing called "software" for the Apollo computers, and make it work in 72K of "rope memory."

An irony: The reason the Apollo 1 hatch opened inward? Because they wanted to avoid another incident with the hatch blowing out as happened to the same Gus Grissom on Liberty Bell 7.

Unfortunately they don't have any other showing scheduled, but if you have a capable DVR set a Wishlist or Season Pass for it.

I'm going to be saving the series (in HD even) on my media network. I'll take offers. :D
 
Moon Machines is coming around again on the Science Channel (and SCI HD) on 4/4.
 
Another space suit contractor that pilots will be familiar with - David Clark.
 
mikea said:
...and for us compu-geeks how for the first time a crew from MIT had to come up with a new thing called "software" for the Apollo computers, and make it work in 72K of "rope memory."
Click to expand...

Software was a "new thing" for the Apollo program? IBM, Univac, and a few others that were shipping computers in the '50's might be surprised to learn that.
 
Joe B said:
Software was a "new thing" for the Apollo program? IBM, Univac, and a few others that were shipping computers in the '50's might be surprised to learn that.
Click to expand...

Right. :redface: Software on something that wasn't taking up most of a building was a new thing.
 
write-stuff said:
Another space suit contractor that pilots will be familiar with - David Clark.
Click to expand...

David Clark made brassieres before WW II. Chuck Yaeger and Bob Hoover tell a funny story about flying back from a tour of David Clark to look at space suits. They were given cases of bras for their wives. They nearly went down on the return trip thinking how they'd BETTER die than live with the embarrassment. :D
 
mikea said:
Right. :redface: Software on something that wasn't taking up most of a building was a new thing.
Click to expand...

I was reading some a book a while back about the development of the Apollo program. Basically someone walked in and said something like "We need an onboard guidance computer that's X x Y x Z inches, weighs A lbs, runs off B volts and uses C amp/hrs." Someone said that's impossible but they'd do it anyway.
They did.

Here, this should humble the new generation of know-it-all computer geeks who think sectors are hard disk platters and don't know the first thing about down to basics computer design:

The Do It Yourself Block I Apollo Guidance Computer
http://klabs.org/history/build_agc/

Enjoy.
 
It's ON! B)B)B)


The way those mainframe datacenters looked is a hoot. There are like 8 guys in white shirts and ties tending to various places of the monster that must be appeased. Now we wouldn't have that many guys working in the entire city.

I'm gonna save the show and decorate my office like that. It wouldn't be too hard to build my own console. Lessee....White metal panels stacked going up 7 feet, with a blue strip at the top with a red logo and [FONT="Lucida Console]Mikeax 284PA[/FONT]... :goofy:
 
Heads up!

There's another Moon Machines marathon on the Science Channel starting this Friday 7/8, and repeating on 7/18.
 
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Sounds like fun - thanks for the heads-up!
 
MIT had to come up with a new thing called "software" for the Apollo computers, and make it work in 72K of "rope memory."
Click to expand...

I thought the 1964 Block I AGC was 12K ROM and 1K RAM at 1mhz...and that will get you to the moon and back...but it won't even run the on/off button on your modern laptop.


FWIW: There is a site that has instructions on how to build a Block I AGC in your spare time.
 
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