MIT's Role in Project Apollo, Vol. III: Computer Subsystem
GWDANCE, NAVIGATION AND CONTROL Approved '4 Dat2T Approved Q& )a. U Date2 -$7 'c R. R. RAGAN, DEPUTY DlRECTW THE CHARLES STARK DRAPER LABORATORY R - 700 MIT's ROLE IN PROJECT APOLLO FINAL REPORT ON CONTRACTS NAS 9-163 AND NAS 94065 VOLUME 111 COMPUTER SUBSYSTEM by ELOON C. HALL AUGUST 1972 MmW CHARLES STARK DRAPER CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, 02139 LABORATORY ACKNOWLEDGNIENTS This report was prepared under DSR Project 55-23890, sponsored by the Manned Spacecraft Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through Contract NAS9-4065. The author expresses appreciation to many individuals within Draper Laboratory who contributed to the following sections of the report. In particular: A. Hopkins Section 1, 2 A. Green, R. Filene Section 4 A. Harano Section 5 D. Bowler' Section 6 D. Hanley, J. Partridge Section 7. The publication of this document does not constitute approval by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the findings or conclusions contained herein. It is published for the exchange and stimulation of ideas. Q Copyright by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Published by the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Printed in;Cambridge, Massachusetts, U .S .A ., 1972 ii FOREWORD The title of these volumes, "MIT's Role in Project Apollo", provides but a modest hint of the enormous range of accomplishments by the staff of this Laboratory on behalf of the Apollo program. Man's rush into spaceflight during the 1960s demanded fertile imagination, bold pragmatism, and creative extensions of existing technologies in a myriad of fields, The achievements in guidance and control for space navigation, however, are second to none for their critical importance in the success of this nation's manned lunar-landing program, for while powerful space vehicles and rockets provide the environment and thrust necessary for space flight, they are intrinsically incapable of controlling or guiding themselves on a mission as complicated and sophisticated as Apollo.
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