Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight

Description

As Apollo 11's Lunar Module descended toward the moon under automaticcontrol, a program alarm in the guidance computer's software nearly caused a missionabort. Neil Armstrong responded by switching off the automatic mode and takingdirect control. He stopped monitoring the computer and began flying the spacecraft, relying on skill to land it and earning praise for a triumph of human over machine.In Digital Apollo, engineer-historian David Mindell takes this famous moment as astarting point for an exploration of the relationship between humans and computersin the Apollo program. In each of the six Apollo landings, the astronaut in commandseized control from the computer and landed with his hand on the stick. Mindellrecounts the story of astronauts' desire to control their spacecraft in parallelwith the history of the Apollo Guidance Computer. From the early days of aviationthrough the birth of spaceflight, test pilots and astronauts sought to be more than"spam in a can" despite the automatic controls, digital computers, andsoftware developed by engineers. Digital Apollo examines the design and execution ofeach of the six Apollo moon landings, drawing on transcripts and data telemetry fromthe flights, astronaut interviews, and NASA's extensive archives. Mindell'sexploration of how human pilots and automated systems worked together to achieve theultimate in flight--a lunar landing--traces and reframes the debate over the futureof humans and automation in space. The results have implications for any venture inwhich human roles seem threatened by automated systems, whether it is the work atour desktops or the future of exploration.David A. Mindell is Dibner Professor ofthe History of Engineering and Manufacturing, Professor of Engineering Systems, andDirector of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. He is the authorof Between Human and Machine: Feedback, Control, and Computing before Cyberneticsand War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor.