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Her Code Got Humans on the Moon—And Invented Software Itself

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Posted

Neat article on Margaret Hamilton, one of the lead programmers of the Apollo flight computers.

Her Code Got Humans on the Moon—And Invented Software Itself

http://www.wired.com/2015/10/margaret-hamilton-nasa-apollo/

"Hamilton remembers. Once the code was solid, it would be shipped off to a nearby Raytheon facility where a group of women, expert seamstresses known to the Apollo program as the “Little Old Ladies,” threaded copper wires through magnetic rings (a wire going through a core was a 1; a wire going around the core was a 0). Forget about RAM or disk drives; on Apollo, memory was literally hardwired and very nearly indestructible."

and programing at MIT at 24 years old. Impressive.

Posted

Have always loved the fact of several great women being key to software and computer programming history. Ada Lovelace working with Babbage (was it?). Then Admiral Grace Hopper. Had forgotten about Hamilton until this piece.

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Posted

Why does this remind me of Betsy Ross? ^_^ Actually I think that story has been debunked. MS. Hamilton seems a real heroine.

Best regards,

RA1

Posted

Here is one of those expert seamstresses hand-wiring the memory modules...

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This source says it was called "LOL memory", for Little Old Lady: http://factually.gizmodo.com/nasas-most-ambitious-spacecraft-ever-is-about-as-smart-1667270807

Reminds that another place where the Apollo program employed many expert seamstresses was sewing the astronauts' space suits:

Bra Makers' Moon-Suit History to Star in Warner Bros. Movie

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International Latex Corporation (ILC) seamstresses are seen in 1967 sewing parts for the Apollo spacesuits worn on the moon.

From the studio that put Sandra Bullock in a spacesuit may now come a movie about the real-life seamstresses who traded sewing brassieres for stitching Neil Armstrong's lunar wardrobe.

Warner Bros. Pictures, which this fall will release Alfonso Cuarón's Bullock-and-George-Clooney-as-astronauts sci-fi film "Gravity," has hired screenwriter Richard Cordiner to adapt the non-fiction book, "Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo" for the big screen, the Hollywood news website Deadline reports.

"Spacesuit," by Nicholas de Monchaux, tells the history of the Apollo moonwalkers' outerwear and the company that created it: ILC, or International Latex Corporation — best known by its consumer brand of "Playtex." De Monchaux, an assistant professor of architecture and urban design at the University of California, Berkeley, researched the book while working for a year as a fellow at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. [NASA's New 'Buzz Lightyear' Spacesuit (Photos)]

"Each one of [the spacesuits] was completely handmade — this [was] an utterly couture garment," de Monchaux told National Public Radio at the time his book was released. "Twenty-one layers of all different kinds of material hand sewn by women who came off the bra and girdle assembly lines."

http://www.space.com/21297-bra-makers-moon-spacesuit-movie.html

Posted

Bra makers' moon-suit history to be told in Warner Bros. movie

news-052413a.jpg


International Latex Corporation (ILC) seamstresses sewing parts in 1967 for the Apollo spacesuits worn on the moon. (MIT Press)
May 24, 2013 — From the studio that put Sandra Bullock into a spacesuit may now come a movie about the real-life seamstresses who traded sewing brassieres for stitching Neil Armstrong's lunar wardrobe.

Warner Bros. Pictures, which this fall will release Alfonso Cuarón's Bullock-and-George-Clooney-as-astronauts sci-fi film "Gravity," has hired screenwriter Richard Cordiner to adapt the non-fiction book, "Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo" for the big screen, the Hollywood news website Deadline reports.

"Spacesuit," by Nicholas de Monchaux, tells the history of the Apollo moonwalkers' outerwear and the company that created it: ILC, or International Latex Corporation — best known by its consumer brand of "Playtex." De Monchaux, an assistant professor of architecture and urban design at the University of California, Berkeley, researched the book while working for a year as a fellow at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

news-052413b.jpg
The cover art for "Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo" by Nicholas de Monchaux; the book will adapted for a Warner Bros. movie. (MIT)
"Each one of [the spacesuits] was completely handmade – this [was] an utterly couture garment," de Monchaux told National Public Radio at the time his book was released. "Twenty-one layers of all different kinds of material hand sewn by women who came off the bra and girdle assembly lines."

"When you look at how Playtex put these suits together, it was this really kind of fabulous combination of, on the one hand some engineering expertise, but on the other hand, an enormous amount of informal knowledge," remarked de Monchaux.

If the story of a group of seamstresses and their unlikely supervisors — a TV repairman-turned-spacesuit engineer and a former sewing machine salesman-turned-executive — seems devoid of the type of drama needed for a movie, "Spacesuit" recalls their triumph over the military-industrial complex to produce what in July 1969 became the most iconic outfit worn in the history of mankind.

"One of the most remarkable stories is when Playtex was indeed successfully edged out of the [spacesuit selection] process at one point in 1965 and then battled its way back into a six week competition between three companies that would produce the final suit that would walk on the moon," de Monchaux told NPR's "Science Friday" in 2011.

news-052413c.jpg
An ILC seamstress stitches an Apollo A7L spacesuit. (MIT Press)
The screenplay for "Spacesuits" is Cordiner's first script in a two-film deal with Warner Bros. A brand strategist for a San Francisco advertising agency, Cordiner's spec script for a documentary about the making of the classic Steven Spielberg movie "Jaws" drew the studio's attention.

"Still can't believe I'll help tell this incredible story... such an honor," Cordiner wrote on Twitter on Wednesday (May 22), referring to "Spacesuits."

If the project reaches theaters, it will not be the first time that Warner Bros. has borrowed from space history for a movie. The studio distributed the 1983 film adaptation of Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" about the original Mercury astronauts and backed the 2000 stateside release of "The Dish" about Australia's contribution to the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Warner Bros. and Clint Eastwood acquired the film rights to astronaut Neil Armstrong's authorized biography, "First Man," by historian James Hansen in 2003, but then let the option expire four years later.

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-052413a.html

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Posted

Even today there is no one size fits all when it comes to "G" suits or pressure suits. They have to fit the body "just right" in order to work properly. Putting on a few pounds gives a whole new definition to "outgrowing" your job. ^_^

Best regards,

RA1

Posted

I read an interview with one (or more) of these spacesuit seamstresses a few years ago. They were acutely aware of the life-or-death nature of their work, and made the point that they had never in their life paid so much attention to making every single individual stitch perfect. Like so much else in Apollo, it was really impressive.

Posted

...and for only $2,195 you too can own a replica NASA Apollo A7L Moon Suit!

SUIT-A7L-REPLICA-2-250x250.jpg

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http://www.thespacestore.com/space-suits/apollo-a7l-moon-suit-replica

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Posted

All special orders ARE special orders. ^_^

I do not plan on going to Mars but, if I were, these folks would be on my check list of things to do.

Best regards,

RA1

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