National Air and Space Museum Archives

Apollo Flight Guidance Computer Software Collection [Hamilton]

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.1986.0158
Creators:
Hamilton, Margaret Heafield, 1936-
Dates:
1965-1986
bulk 1965-1972
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1.22 Cubic feet
2 legal document boxes; 1 slim legal document box
Repository:
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

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

Arrangement
The materials are arranged chronologically.

Biographical Note

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.

Administration

Author
Elizabeth C. Borja
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Margaret Hamilton, gift, 1986-1987.
Processing Information
Arranged, described, and encoded by Elizabeth C. Borja, 2017.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access.
Conditions Governing Use
Preferred Citation
Apollo Flight Guidance Computer Software Collection [Hamilton], Accession 1986-0158, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Project Apollo (U.S.) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Space vehicles -- Guidance systems Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hamilton, Margaret Heafield, 1936- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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