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Apollo Flight Guidance Computer Software Collection [Hamilton]

Air and Space Museum

Apollo Flight Guidance Computer Software Collection [Hamilton]
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Finding aid
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Object Details

sova.nasm.1986.0158
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg236b98f18-3818-4b38-91a4-4a14f8cc89e4
Creator
Hamilton, Margaret Heafield, 1936-
Names
Hamilton, Margaret Heafield, 1936-
Topic
Project Apollo (U.S.)
Space vehicles -- Guidance systems
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
Provenance
Donated by Margaret Hamilton, gift, 1986-1987.
Creator
Hamilton, Margaret Heafield, 1936-
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Apollo Flight Guidance Computer Software Collection [Hamilton]
Summary
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.
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.
Extent
1.22 Cubic feet (2 legal document boxes; 1 slim legal document box)
Date
1965-1986
bulk 1965-1972
Archival Repository
National Air and Space Museum Archives
Identifier
NASM.1986.0158
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Citation
Apollo Flight Guidance Computer Software Collection [Hamilton], Accession 1986-0158, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Arrangement
The materials are arranged chronologically.
Processing Information
Arranged, described, and encoded by Elizabeth C. Borja, 2017.
Rights
Permissions Requests
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]."
Restrictions
No restrictions on access.
NASM.1986.0158
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg236b98f18-3818-4b38-91a4-4a14f8cc89e4
NASM.1986.0158
NASMAC
Record ID
ebl-1503510206559-1503510206563-0

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Clear facet(s):

Excluded:

  • Remove Date: 1960s close
  • 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

  • Schmidt, George T. and Larry D. Brock. "General Questions on Kalman Filtering in Navigation Systems." Report E-2406.

  • The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory [promotional material]

  • Hamilton, Margaret. Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. Software Shuttle Memo #29. Management of APOLLO Programming and its Application to the Shuttle. [Note from Margaret Hamilton]

  • "Guidance System Operations Plan Manned CM Earth Orbital Missions Using Program Skylark 1. Section 2: Data Links." Report R-693 [Pre-Release Copy]

  • AC Electronics, Apollo 13 Guidance and Navigation Summary

  • Instrumentation Laboratory, MIT, Apollo Project Memorandum #2038, Submission of MIT/IL Software Development Plan

  • MIT/Draper Laboratory Program Change Routing Slips [Note from Margaret Hamilton]

  • 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]

  • Hamilton, Margaret. Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. Shuttle Management Note #14. First Draft of a Report on the Analysis of Apollo System Problems During Flight.

  • [Note from Margaret Hamilton, placed in Delco Electronics. Apollo Command Module. Primary Guidance, Navigation and Control System. Student Study Guide.]

  • Memo, To: FS55/Head, Apollo Guidance Program Section, From: FS55/Head, Program Support Group, Subject: Apollo Mission G Post-flight Summary - AGC support (console 37, Flight Dynamics SSR)

  • NASA, Preliminary Flight Plan Apollo 7, AS 205/101

  • "Guidance System Operations Plan for Manned CM Earth Orbital Mission Using Program Sundisk. Section 5: Guidance Equations" Report R-547 Rev. 2

  • Hamilton, M. MIT/IL. COLOSSUS Revision Memos. [Note from Margaret Hamilton]

  • Sokkappa, Balraj G. "On Optimal Steering to Achieve 'Required Velocity.'" Report R-491

  • Battin, Richard H. and Gerald M. Levine. "Application of Kalman Filtering Techniques to the Apollo Program." Report E-2401

  • Delco Electronics. Apollo Command Module. Primary Guidance, Navigation and Control System. Student Study Guide. CM Digital Autopilot.

  • [Note from Margaret Hamilton, placed in AC Electronics, Apollo 13 book]

  • "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]

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