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Light Years Ahead | The 1969 Apollo Guidance Computer

TNMoC · lecture · Watch on YouTube

History of computingSpace exploration & spaceflightComputer architecture & CPUs

What it is

Robert Wills of TNMoC explains the Apollo Guidance Computer hardware and software, then walks through the Apollo 11 landing procedure step by step, including the 1202 alarms.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN calls it mandatory viewing on the AGC, praising the speaker's enthusiasm and the clear account of restartable, robust software design.

  • 11 people recommended it
  • 11 different months
  • 6 strong recommendations
  • first 2021, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “I suggest watching this excellent presentation”

    Explains how the LEM could land itself.

    mulmen, 2021-06 · Strong recommendation · in “A transistorized shift register box, built in 1965 for Apollo testing”

  2. “Mandatory Light Years Ahead | The 1969 Apollo Guidance Computer”

    Considered mandatory viewing on the AGC.

    Banana699, 2022-05 · Strong recommendation · in “On rebooting: the unreasonable effectiveness of turning computers off and on”

  3. “The guy is really, really into it and it just makes the presentation amazing.”

    Speaker's passion makes the AGC talk amazing.

    TremendousJudge, 2022-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Two hundred years ago, Jean-François Champollion deciphers the Rosetta Stone”

  4. “if one hasn't, it's a gem.”

    A gem of a talk.

    kzrdude, 2023-11 · Strong recommendation · in “Translations of Russ Cox's Thompson NFA C Program to Rust”

  5. “I watched this video a while ago, and I found it riveting”

    Walks through landing procedure and robust software design.

    isolli, 2024-03 · Strong recommendation · in “NASA engineers make progress toward understanding Voyager 1 issue”

  6. “For a superb video explaining what the AGC did and what WENT WRONG during the moon landing”

    Explains the AGC and what went wrong during landing.

    soferio, 2026-07 · Strong recommendation · in “Original Apollo 11 Guidance Computer source code for command and lunar modules”

  7. “I recently saw a surprisingly interesting talk about the Apollo board computer”

    Apollo computer's careful engineering: wired software, error correction, restartability.

    alpaca128, 2021-03 · Recommendation · in “Part of Wright brothers' first airplane on NASA's Mars chopper”

  8. “Great talk and overall super presenter IMHO.”

    Talk on the 1202 alarm with a great presenter.

    tatoalo, 2022-08 · Recommendation · in “The Apollo On-Board Computers”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: apollo 11, agc, 1202 alarm, spaceflight software, computer history

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