• An unsung heroine.

    From Björn Felten@2:203/2 to All on Tue Apr 16 07:43:11 2024
    Tonight (at 02:56 UTC to be exact) it's 50 years since, what most people regard as the most impressive accomplishment ever in human history took place. The first human being set foot on another heavenly body but our own Earth.

    In fact, this was such an enormous achievement that even today there's a lot of people who are still convinced that it couldn't have happened; it simply was far beyond what was real, if for no other reason with the technology we had then.

    While I'm sure that Neil Armstrong will be mentioned millions of times throughout the world tonight, I'd like to mention the woman who contributed to make it all happen: Margaret Hamilton.

    One of the Lunar Landing Hoax believer's main objection is, that the computers by then were far to big and power hungry to fit into a lunar landing module or even the vehicle taking it to the moon.

    Well, Margaret, now 82 and still kicking, by then 32, did make it happen. There were no computers onboard any of the vehicles, at least not what we call computers nowadays. It was more like the first ever embedded systems.

    Those systems were designed to be foolproof. Absolutely 100% foolproof, not 99.99%. And she made it happen. Still today they are regarded as the most reliable embedded systems ever created, with error recovery functions that still to this day put shame on Microsoft and other major software companies.

    Here's thinking of you, Margaret! At the age of 32 you really made it big time in the man's world that you lived in by then (and still today). Software engineers around the world still remember and salute you. Skl!




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  • From Paul Quinn@3:640/1384.125 to Björn Felten on Tue Apr 16 07:43:11 2024
    Hi! Björn,

    On 07/20/2019 08:09 PM, you wrote:

    Here's thinking of you, Margaret! At the age of 32 you really made
    it big time in the man's world that you lived in by then (and still today). Software engineers around the world still remember and salute
    you. Skål!

    Mmm... did she know Dan? Or Frank? I wonder how she fitted in with their personal experiences.

    Cheers,
    Paul.

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  • From Michiel van der Vlist@2:280/5555 to Björn Felten on Tue Apr 16 07:43:11 2024
    Hello Bjrn,

    On Saturday July 20 2019 12:09, you wrote to All:

    Well, Margaret, now 82 and still kicking, by then 32, did make it happen. There were no computers onboard any of the vehicles, at least
    not what we call computers nowadays. It was more like the first ever embedded systems.

    Those systems were designed to be foolproof. Absolutely 100%
    foolproof, not 99.99%. And she made it happen. Still today they are regarded as the most reliable embedded systems ever created, with
    error recovery functions that still to this day put shame on Microsoft
    and other major software companies.

    Hmm... What I read today is that at 300 meters the "computer" in the lunar lander crashed for the fourth time in five minutes. It rebooted relatively quicky without loss of information but for seconds Armstrong and Aldrin were flying blind without height information.

    Armstrong was selected for his cold-bloodedness and it paid off. He did not loose his nerve during the landing. With a "computer"crashing every other minute, unexpected obstructions at the landing site and only 18 seconds of fuel left in the end, I do not think many others would have pulled it off.

    When at age 17, I went to university in 1963 and took astronomy as a secondary, I was introduced at the Utrecht Observatory. With my fellow students I looked at the moon through the "Big" Telescope. The 25 cm Merz refractor. Max Kuperus, the then bachelor showing us around said: people are going to walk there and we are going to live to see it. Six years later it happened and I lived to see it.

    I sure have lived in interesting times...

    Cheers, Michiel

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  • From Björn Felten@2:203/2 to Ward Dossche on Tue Apr 16 07:43:11 2024
    Stuffing routines in 4KB or 8KB memory was not unique nor
    state-of-the-art but daily business then. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

    By then? I seriously doubt both your statements.

    I made it a decade later with my Motorola 6800 based embedded system (not a computer!).


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  • From Björn Felten@2:203/2 to Michiel van der Vlist on Tue Apr 16 07:43:11 2024
    MvdV> Same here. I later converted that "embedded system" into a real
    MvdV> computer. Flex OS and 5 inch floppy drives. Later 6809 with 16 MB hard
    MvdV> dive.

    Me too. I built from a description in a Swedish computer magazine. I still have it here somewhere, with the 5 1/2" disk with the Flex OS on it.

    MvdV> Those were the days... ;-)

    They really were! <3



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  • From Lee Lofaso@2:203/2 to Bjrn Felten on Tue Apr 16 07:43:11 2024
    Hello Björn,

    Tonight (at 02:56 UTC to be exact) it's 50 years since, what most people regard as the most impressive accomplishment ever in human history took place. The first human being set foot on another heavenly body but our own Earth.

    Not everybody is convinced.

    In fact, this was such an enormous achievement that even today there's a lot
    of people who are still convinced that it couldn't have happened;
    it simply was far beyond what was real,

    Most people alive today have no recollection of such an event ever
    taking place. For them, it is all a fairy tale.

    If we really did land on the Mooon as we have been told, why have we
    not returned in almost 50 years? That question alone brings up many
    other questions.

    We really landed there and found nothing interesting - just craters
    and dust.

    We really landed there but nobody told the public the interesting
    stuff.

    We really landed there and found evidence of previous advanced
    human civilization and technology on the Moon because humans made
    it into space before the last catastrophic event. Plato wrote
    about it, describing what happened to Atlantis.

    We really landed there and found evidence of aliens observing us
    on the far side of the Moon as their base. Pink Floyd sang about
    this on his album, "Dark Side of the Moon".

    We never made it to the Moon at all. It was just propaganda.

    So. Which story do you want to believe?

    if for no other reason with the technology we had then.

    A blogger has challenged that notion. Read on.

    While I'm sure that Neil Armstrong will be mentioned millions of times throughout the world tonight, I'd like to mention the woman who contributed
    to make it all happen: Margaret Hamilton.

    Yes, of course. We only sent men to the Moon. Never women.
    That is why NASA has decided to come clean, and is planning a
    remake of this event -

    As a tribute to the 50th anniversary of its fake moon landing, the
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration has announced a reboot
    of the staged event that fooled billions worldwide, only this time
    featuring an all-female crew.

    NASA officials confirm they will release a shot-for-shot remake of the meticulously concocted phony moon landing, originally filmed at an
    undisclosed soundstage 50 years ago this week. The rejuvenated hoax
    will follow in the footsteps of other recent all-female reboots like Ghostbusters and Ocean’s 8.

    “Those were some great buddy films,” a NASA spokesperson told reporters, “but we made the ultimate buddy movie in 1969 when we tricked all those people with Neil, Buzz, and Mike. We thought a modernized update was
    the perfect way to mark the occasion.”

    Rumors claim the part of Neil Armstrong will be played by Scarlett
    Johansson, with Melissa McCarthy acting in the role of Edwin “Buzz”
    Aldrin. The Michael Collins character will be portrayed by Dame Judi
    Dench.

    According to sources, the only change in the script is a more inclusive
    update to Armstrong’s famous words when setting foot on the moon, which
    will be replaced with the line “That’s one small step for a woman, one giant leap for womankind, mankind, transgenderkind, genderfluidkind,
    and otherkind.”

    One of the Lunar Landing Hoax believer's main objection is, that the computers by then were far to big and power hungry to fit into a lunar landing module or even the vehicle taking it to the moon.

    One blogger challenged hoaxers everywhere with this - "You cannot name
    even one single piece of technology that would be required for a 3 day
    trip to the moon that would be outside of relatively well understood
    and very publicly known aerospace engineering technology of the 1960s.
    Go ahead and try. I dare you."

    He claims he has been waiting over 10 years for them to come up
    with something. I presume his challenge remains open.

    Well, Margaret, now 82 and still kicking, by then 32, did make it happen. There were no computers onboard any of the vehicles, at least not what we call computers nowadays. It was more like the first ever embedded systems.

    The main engineering obstacles seem not to be a need for new
    technology. That is what so few (if any) hoaxers truly understand.

    The lack of a launch rocket capable of boosting the payload -
    a manned capsule - followed by NASA's wants (not needs) of developing
    equipment to get water and hydrogen from lunar dust, and to build
    a lunar space station first (before anybody else).

    Why would the US want to land a man on the Moon? The US wanted
    to show the USSR it had the capability of striking a target with
    a ballistic missile from 240,000 miles away. The part about a
    man stepping on the surface of the Moon was a PR stunt for the
    masses.

    That is what you had. Three monkeys sitting on top of a ballistic
    missile, launched towards a target a quarter million miles away.

    Yes, Margaret Hamilton deserves special credit for what she has
    done to have made it possible for NASA to have completed its mission.
    But so many others also deserve credit. After all, it was a team
    effort.

    They did all this using technology that existed in their day. That
    is what is so remarkable. No help from ancient artifacts found
    in Egypt or Atlantis or other lost civilization. No help from ETs
    who crashlanded at Roswell, New Mexico.

    Those systems were designed to be foolproof.

    There were backup systems to backup systems. Not even the best
    designed systems could not be expected to perform perfectly, in every situation. And even then, that still was not enough, as "Buzz" Aldrin
    had to use his felt-tip pen to fix a glitch that would have kept the
    lunar module from lifting off the Moon.

    Absolutely 100% foolproof, not 99.99%. And she made it happen.

    Nothing is "absolutely 100% foolproof" - as demonstrated.

    Still today they are regarded as the most reliable embedded systems ever created, with error recovery functions that still to this day put shame on Microsoft and other major software companies.

    It was certainly an engineering feat. Assuming it was not a hoax.

    Here's thinking of you, Margaret! At the age of 32 you really made it big time in the man's world that you lived in by then (and still today). Software engineers around the world still remember and salute you. Skål!

    So. When, if ever, are we going back to the Moon?
    When, if ever, will we travel to Mars? And beyond?

    Maybe I'll have to satisfy myself by reading more of Edgar Rice
    Burrough's tales. All true stores, according to him.

    --Lee

    --
    Big Or Small We Lay Them All

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  • From Björn Felten@2:203/2 to BOB ACKLEY on Tue Apr 16 07:43:11 2024
    Why? IIRC CP/M loads in about 8KB of RAM (for the youngsters, CP/M was
    an operating system for 8080 and Z80 based computers).

    By then -- as in the first lunar landing -- those microprocessors are at least a decade away.



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