"Guidance System Operations Plan for Manned CM Earth Orbital Mission Using Program Sundisk. Section 6: Control Data." Report R-547 Rev. 1 [Note from Margaret Hamilton]
"Guidance System Operations Plan for Manned LM Earth Orbital and Lunar Missions Using Program Luminary. Section 4: PGNCS Operational Modes." Report R-567 [2 of 3]
"Guidance System Operations Plan for Manned LM Earth Orbital and Lunar Missions Using Program Luminary. Section 4: PGNCS Operational Modes." Report R-567 [3 of 3]
"Guidance System Operations Plan for Manned LM Earth Orbital and Lunar Missions Using Program Luminary. Section 4: PGNCS Operational Modes." Report R-567 [Note from Margaret Hamilton] [1 of 3]
The Apollo Flight Guidance Computer Software Collection [Hamilton] consists of reports, memoranda, and related material documenting the Apollo flight guidance software developed by Margaret Hamilton's team at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory (CSDL) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The collection also includes Hamilton's 1986 handwritten notes on selected documents.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of reports, memoranda, and related material documenting the Apollo flight guidance software developed by Margaret Hamilton's team at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory (CSDL) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Documents include a printout from an Apollo guidance computer software simulation; software program change routing slips; reports from Apollo Guidance, Navigation, and Control (formerly Apollo Guidance and Navigation); a preliminary flight plan for Apollo 7; memoranda for the submission of MIT/IL Software Development Plan, critiquing each new official version of the flight system; guidance system documents using assorted programs, including Sundisk, Skylark, and Luminary; and an oversized Charles Stark Draper Laboratory brochure. When she donated the collection in 1986, Hamilton composed handwritten notes on the history of selected documents, which are included with each document and identified in the finding aid as "[Note from Margaret Hamilton]."
Arrangement:
The materials are arranged chronologically.
Biographical Note:
Margaret H. Hamilton (b. 1936) was the Director of Software Engineering Division at Charles Stark Draper Laboratory (CSDL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was responsible for the onboard flight software for NASA's Apollo and Skylab missions. She became known as the "Rope Mother," an apt description for her role and referred to the unusual way that computer programs were stored on the Apollo guidance computers.
Hamilton received a BA in Mathematics from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, and postponed her Ph.D. work when she was offered the opportunity to work on the Apollo project. She has published over 130 papers and reports on her areas of expertise in system design and software development. In 1986, she became the founder and CEO of Hamilton Technologies, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On November 22, 2016, President Barack Obama awarded Hamilton the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution that led to Apollo 11's successful landing.
Apollo Guidance Computer Software Simulation - [computer printout] (command module test run simulation in a powered flight program demonstrating parameter during an error detection and recovery process. Bailout during burn.) [Note from Margaret Hamilton]
Page (45506-A) from an example of a command module test run simulation in a powered flight program demonstrating parameters during an error detection and recovery process. Run date: 10/23/1968.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection Rights:
Permissions Requests
Collection Citation:
Apollo Flight Guidance Computer Software Collection [Hamilton], Accession 1986-0158, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Hamilton, Margaret. Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. Shuttle Management Note #14. First Draft of a Report on the Analysis of Apollo System Problems During Flight.
Hamilton, Margaret. Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. Software Shuttle Memo #29. Management of APOLLO Programming and its Application to the Shuttle. [Note from Margaret Hamilton]
MIT/Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. Stubbs, G., A. Penchuk, and R. Schlundt. "A Digital Autopilot for Thrust Vector Control of Apollo CSM and CSM/LM Vehicles." Report R-670
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