Apollo Guidance Computer Activities

AGC - AGC Project Home Page

The Apollo Guidance Computer

The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) provided reliable real-time control for the Apollo spacecraft that carried US astronauts to the moon, 1969-1972. It was designed by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory (now The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.)  and manufactured by Raytheon Corporation.

The AGC was significant for its tight coupling of human and machine, its early use of integrated circuits, and its reliable, mission critical software. The history of the AGC project provides a window into the history of technology in America during the space race and the Cold War.  This site is devoted to documenting the machines, people and institutions that made this achievement possible. 

What's New?

30 December - Read transcripts of the AGC Conference 4.

2 January - Read an interview with Professor Richard Battin.

Archive of What's New.

 


Contents of the Site

button_earth.jpg (3749 bytes) Introduction:

Contains interpretive material about the AGC and reference material about the AGC history project. This material addresses the major questions that the AGC project history has posed

button_aldrin.jpg (7176 bytes) People:

Contains biographical details of key figures in the history of the AGC.

button_footprint.jpg (2908 bytes) Documents:

Contains links to document archive, transcripts of conferences, and external links pages.

button_rocket.jpg (1947 bytes) Discussions:

Entry point to the AGC online discussion forums.

button_rover.jpg (2234 bytes) Timelines:

Entry point to the collaborative timeline.  Requires membership of the Apollo Guidance Computer group.

button_socialism.jpg (2673 bytes)  

Computing in the Soviet Space Program:

Information on the development of guidance and navigational computing in the Soviet Space program.

button_stepout.jpg (1992 bytes) Staff:

Details and contact information for AGC project staff and members of the AGC project advisory board.

button_control.jpg (2132 bytes) Bibliographies:

Contains suggestions for further reading about the AGC and the social, political and cultural contexts within which the system was developed.

For more detail on the layout of the site, go to the sitemap.


site last updated 02-01-2003 by Alexander Brown