The Brilliant Minds Behind Apollo Shine On

I wrote my memoir, The Step, to draw attention to the unsung heroes of the Apollo Program. The men and women who made up the technical team, instead of the astronauts who have historically received all the attention and the glory. I’ve been promoting my book and giving book talks for over a year now. I always mention the effort that was made to assemble this incredibly impressive, intelligent and hardworking scientific team that made this seemingly impossible feat, of landing a man on the moon, attainable. 

Last weekend I had the pleasure of addressing Mensa at their Annual Gathering in Hollywood, Florida. I ended my talk, as I usually do, with a Question & Answer session. One man named Bob Tewchuk raised his hand and asked, “Seems there is a rumor that 90% of the Apollo mission computer was code redundant. That is, 10% of the code contained the instructions, and 90% was used for error checking and to ensure there were no errors or crashes. A friend of mine told me this years ago, and I’d like to know if it’s true.”

I worked in PR not in computer programming, so I didn’t know the answer to his question. But I knew someone who would! I took down Bob’s information and promised I would get back to him with an answer. I forwarded his question to two of my former Apollo coworkers and friends, Kenneth Clark and Jim Handley. Here’s Ken’s reply:

“The term “code redundant” implies that there is code that is redundant for some reason such as to recompute a value for which the answer is known in order to verify correctness.  I doubt there was any of that in the flight computers and know for a fact there was none in the ground computers.  A second form might be some form of redundancy in hardware with identical software in the redundant hardware and some sort of voting logic to determine which hardware was correct.  The Launch Vehicle Digital Computer used triple modular redundancy (TMR) logic, but I don’t believe the code was replicated.  The Saturn Ground Launch Computers were not TMR.  However, the Mobile Launcher Computer did contain redundant set of code which was switched to if the primary memory encountered a parity error or no instruction alarm during execution.  I don’t know if the Apollo Guidance Computers contained any form of redundancy and don’t see any evidence of any in my investigation on the internet.

 On the subject of error checking, not even close to 90% of the code would be allocated to that task.  The amount of memory in any of the computers made it absolutely impossible for there to be much if any code in the computers to be used for error checking.  The error checking that existed was to determine if an operation requested or commanded by a program completed successfully.  There were some checks even in the Lunar Lander to report on unexpected errors.  An example of this was the Lunar Module program alarms minutes into the landing sequence (Error codes 1201 & 1202).

 Memory in the computers was mostly magnetic core.  Here are some examples of the memory sizes used in the computers

 Saturn Ground Launch Computers (RCA 110A) – 32 K 24 bit words + 1 parity bit

Instrument Unit Launch Vehicle  Digital Computer – 32 K 28 bit words including 2 parity bits

Apollo Guidance Computers — 2048 K words of erasable magnetic core memory and 36 K 16 bit words of read-only core rope memory.

 

Note:  There were 2 Apollo Guidance Computers in the spacecraft.  One in the Command Module and one in the Lunar Module.

 

Hope this helps,

Ken”

Amazing that over fifty years later his memory is so precise. I called him a genius in my book and clearly he’s living up to the title.

The remarkable triumphs of that team have changed the trajectory of our country forever. The greatest minds of the time collected and working together were ever so powerful. Unfortunately, when Apollo ended the team was disbanded. Many of the brilliant scientists and engineers were sent packing or to sell typewriters.

Our space program has been stuck on the back shelf for years. As we stagnate China, Russia and private companies make leaps and bounds forward. It’s about time we revisit our treatment of the space program and recognize it’s importance in securing our future stability and respectability as a nation. I can think of two guys who would be perfect to head up the scientific team!

You’ve Come a Long Way Baby…

Martha and IBMersI am reminded of a date in time: August 26, 1971. I was working at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) as a member of the Apollo Launch Support Team. At the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY) Congress designated August 26 as “Women’s Equality Day.”

Thus began a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York.

The observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts to gain full equality.

I had endured my own challenges in the 60’s and 70’s regarding women’s rights. Following my divorce, I couldn’t obtain a checking account unless my ex-husband signed for me. The very clothes I wore in performing my job as a writer at KSC were designated “safety hazards.”

I was also making much less money than my male counterparts as a PR writer. Yet, I knew that things would change; after all I worked for a very progressive company, IBM.

Betty Friedan’s international bestseller, “The Feminine Mystique” ignited my personal consciousness to what gender equality should mean in America and around the world.

Friedan challenged the assumption, at work and at home, that women should always be the ones who make the coffee, watch over the children, pick up after men and serve the meals.

On my own personal level, after years of proving myself and finally being promoted from secretary to write, I recall with great pleasure that same day that I refused to get coffee.

I was a workingwoman when women did not work outside the home. Some of my children’s friends were not allowed to even come to our home, because I wasn’t there to supervise.

Today, it’s common for both the husband and wife to work. Despite the increased workload of families, and even though 70 percent of American children now live in households where every adult in the home is employed, no major federal initiative to help workers accommodate their family and work demands have been passed.

Today, women are still paid less than men at almost every educational level and in almost every job category; they are less likely than men to hold jobs that offer flexibility or family-friendly benefits. When they become mothers, they face more scrutiny and prejudice on the job than fathers do.

We need to stop seeing work-family policy as a woman’s issue and start seeing it as a human rights issue that affects parents, children, partners, singles and elders.

Yes…we have come quite a way in gender equality since the 60’s and 70’s…but Baby, we’ve still got a long way to go!

 

Martha Lemasters is the author of “The Step…One Woman’s Journey to finding her own happiness and success during the Apollo Program.” She resides in Vero Beach FL and has a summer home in the Highlands area.

 

 

History Forgotten: My Letter to the President & CEO of IBM

 

Blast off!

Blast off!

One of the main reasons I felt compelled to write my memoir The Step was to insure all of the hard working men and women who helped bring Apollo to fruition received proper credit. So much of the story has been forgotten in the history books. Our children learn the names of the astronauts, but have no concept of what a monumental accomplishment the Apollo project was, how many people were involved, or how crucial winning the space race was to the status of the US globally. I worked for IBM at Cape Kennedy, and I was disappointed to see upon visiting the company website, that it too had skipped over the contributions it’s employees made to the project. The following is my letter to IBM’s President & CEO.

 

Dear Ms Rometty,

I enjoyed almost ten years working for IBM at Cape Kennedy on the Apollo program. In looking up IBM’s website depicting its history from 1930-1979, I found only the following sentence about IBM ‘s commitment to our space program. “The latter half of the 1960’s saw IBM continue its support of space exploration, participating in the 1965 Gemini flights, 1966 Saturn flights and 1969 lunar mission.”

Several of my retired IBM friends have urged me to write you about a part of IBM history that you might not be aware. It’s all part of my book, The Step, which I am confident will also be made into a major motion picture. It deals with the IBM Apollo launch support team at Kennedy Space Center in the 60’s and 70’s.

As it states on the back cover, “The names of the astronauts will forever be inscribed in our history books, but the names of the entire Apollo launch support team at the Kennedy Space Center and the thousands who supported Apollo elsewhere will only be known to a few.

“It is the technical team, the engineers, analysts, programmers, and yes, even the secretaries and typists who kept the administrative side moving, who are portrayed in this book. This combined team, after achieving an unbelievable goal of launching men on the moon within the 10-year limit set by Kennedy, performed in an exemplary manner.”

I believe they were the greatest technological team ever assembled, achieving the most difficult challenge of all mankind to date. I speak from experience; I was a PR writer for IBM, coming up from the ranks of secretary and finally to a writing position. I wrote about these people. I know the sacrifices …the commitment was intense. There were Apollo IBMers at the Cape, Houston, Huntsville, Owego and Gaithersburg. In the Epilogue section, I added the following historical notes:

“Following the Apollo Program, including Skylab and Apollo/Soyuz, IBM won the Space Shuttle Launch Processing contract, as well as two other key Shuttle systems: Spacelab Integration, with McDonnell-Douglas, and Cargo Integration Test Equipment. A third group at KSC (Shuttle Test & Operations) supported Shuttle launches.

“Under the leadership of CEO Louis Gerstner, Jr., the Federal Systems Division of IBM, whose employees had excelled in all aspects of this country’s space program, was sold in 1994 to Loral Corporation much to the dismay of NASA and the heartbreak of thousands of IBMers. In 1995, Loral sold its defense electronics and systems integration business to Lockheed Martin. The following year, several of those former Loral units were spun off by Lockheed Martin to become the core of L-3 Communications. “

My closing words of The Step include: “I hope I’ve given you a small glimpse into what it was like for a woman working among all that testosterone of dedicated engineers, and astronauts, and everyday people…all committed to a national goal…in those unforgettable years…when IBM’s banner was never flown higher, nor shined brighter, than the years of Apollo…when we all had “The Step.”

Recently I took my cousin on a NASA bus tour through Kennedy Space Center. There on display was the giant Saturn V vehicle, separated into stages but nowhere were the names of the contractors displayed…it was as if NASA had done everything. The lack of recognition for the contractors doesn’t change history and the fact that there were many unsung heroes, brilliant systems engineers, analysts, programmers, doing things that had never been done before, toiling away behind the scenes that made this momentous, game-changing feat happen.

Now, NASA is constructing a new building, entitled “Heroes and Legends,” again dedicated to the astronauts. When I was asked to write down my thoughts about the tour, I wrote, “If you really want to get the Visitor’s Center correct, the history has to be accurate. If it were me, I’d dedicate a whole wing to The Team, who achieved an unbelievable goal. That wing should include all the contractors’ names. This amazing team, made up of the very brightest and best that America had to offer, is the team that time has forgotten.

Recently I watched the movie, Jobs, the story of Steve Jobs’ life. In one scene, he makes the statement that the launch of Macintosh was the second greatest thing to happen in this century, behind the Allies winning World War II. Well, he was wrong, the incident that wins is the launch of men to the moon and safely returning them home. IBM was a crucial part of that history. I implore you to read my book and ask yourself why in the world doesn’t IBM embrace this history?

Sincerely,

Martha Lemasters

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Center, an Inadequate Portrayal of the Apollo Program

Some of the many IBMers who worked at Cape Kennedy during the early 60's.

Some of the many IBMers who worked at Cape Kennedy during the early 60’s.

Have you ever visited the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center near Titusville? What did you think of it?

I recently visited and as a former member of the Launch Support Team at KSC during the 60’s and 70’s I found the visit to the Saturn V exhibit heart breaking. As I glanced at the vehicle there was no indications whatsoever of who the contractors were for each stage of the Saturn V. Apollo was a “team effort”; NASA did not accomplish this mission all by themselves! I brought family members to see where I worked…imagine my dismay when there is not one word anywhere about Boeing, North American, McDonnell-Douglas, IBM, etc.

When I worked at the Cape there were probably 17,000 people there, and out of that number only 3,000 were NASA employees. What about the rest of us? You’re talking about the greatest technological team ever assembled, achieving the most difficult challenge of all mankind to date!

The names of the astronauts will forever be inscribed in our history books, but the names of the entire Apollo Launch Support team will only be know to a few. Yet, here you are now dedicating an entire building to Heroes and Legends…again just about the astronauts.

If NASA really wants to get this place right…the history has to be right. Why not dedicate a whole wing to The Team, who after achieving an unbelievable goal of putting men on the moon within the 10-year limit set by Kennedy, performed in an exemplary manner…Possibly the greatest team ever assembled.

As a result of my letter, and I’m sure many others as well, NASA has now assigned plaques to each of the stages depicting the contractors’ names who were responsible!

 

 

 

Did you ever work on the Apollo Program? If you did, I consider you a part of the greatest engineering team ever assembled. That team achieved the most difficult engineering challenge of all mankind to date…you’re right up there in great achievements with the Allies who won World War II.

I’d love to hear about some of your Apollo experiences…what was your title…what did you specialize in? Where did you work? What happened to you after the Apollo Program ended? Where did you go? Contact me with your story at m.lemasters@icloud.com.

Martha Lemasters, author of The Step

As a marketing communications writer, it was my job to write about the people who made up IBM’s launch support team for the Apollo Program at Kennedy Space Center. IBM’s Instrument Unit was the brain of the Saturn V vehicle that guided our astronauts on the right trajectory to the moon. These IBMers played a critical role on one of the greatest technical teams ever assembled in American history. My book, The Step, tells about some of the stories that occurred during this period, including the heartaches, failures, losses and challenges to my teammates and myself.

Welcome to my website! You’ll find excerpts from my book as well as additional photos not included in the book.

Earthrise

Earthrise from Lunar Surface