Apollo AGC Part 1: Restoring the computer that put man on the Moon
Apollo AGC Part 1: Restoring the computer that put man on the Moon
We embark on the restoration of a very rare and historically significant machine: the Apollo Guidance Computer, or AGC. It was the revolutionary MIT-designed computer aboard Apollo that brought man on the Moon (and back!). Mike Stewart, space engineer extraordinaire and living AGC encyclopedia, spearheads this restoration effort. In this first episode, we setup a makeshift lab in his hotel room, somewhere in Houston. The computer belongs to a delightful private collector, Jimmie Loocke, who has generously allowed us to dive in the guts of his precious machine, with the hope of restoring it to full functionality by July 2019, the anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.
Frequent comment answers:
Yes we know about Francois Rautenbach and the Block I core ropes (https://youtu.be/WquhaobDqLU). These ropes are also from Jimmie and not compatible with our Block II computer
Yes we are in contact with Fran https://youtu.be/UjcfepTdvZI (and several others) about their superb DSKYs replicas.
Some relevant links:
Playlist of the restoration series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-_93BVApb59FWrLZfdlisi_x7-Ut_-w7
Block I AGC period documentary: https://youtu.be/ndvmFlg1WmE
Inertial navigation system documentary: https://youtu.be/wD97RSpiZe0
Schematics: https://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/ElectroMechanical.html
and: https://archive.org/details/agc_handbook_jp2
Mike’s AGC backplane viewer: http://apolloguidance.computer/2003100_071/pins
AGC software repo: https://github.com/virtualagc/virtualagc
The Ultimate Apollo Guidance Computer Talk: https://youtu.be/xx7Lfh5SKUQ
People like these guys "NERDS" are the unsung heroes, they are the people who really make the World go Round
And the Moon… 🌙
🤗
I’m here. I subscribed. I blame Scott Manley.
Thanks 🙂
-Jake
It probably would have gotten a good shake on the Saturn V! j/k (11:22)
Just spent today watching the series. Seriously fantastic stuff. Loved all of it. My hat goes off to those who put this together in the 60’s and you guys who took on its resurrection. Grats to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Percussive maintenance will fix anything, even 50 year old electronics.
Potted? does that mean sealed in wax?
I watched again and now realise they potted with foam
Time to restore the crew module and the rest of the saturn v and go back to the moon
and how did Mr. Jimmie Loocke come into possession of this historic artifact ?
So guys just bought this stuff at junk shops in the 70s? I wonder what else he has?
3:05 is where the legend of Mike working for SpaceX started….
Which leads to some people much later thanking Sapcex for helping rstoring the AGC…..
I’m watching this whole series with nice hot drink and a nice sweet treat
I like this kind of hotel room too. Full of nerds and good test gear.
Scott sent me. Amazing work! Thank you to everyone involved! And thank you for sharing the vids too! Super fascinating!
Got referred here from Scot Manley’s channel, absolutely awesome! Well done guys, am settling in to watch whole series and sending link to everyone i know 🙂
Someone clueless could think you guys are building a bomb in that hotel room.
Saw you on wall street journal, here to subscribe
7:50 Careful there!
I’m so deeply grateful for Mike, Carl, Ken, and Marc who contributed some funds and especially their tech restoration expertise and time to restore this critical piece of US history. Thanks Samtec for sponsoring the project.
ProTip: Take those NASA stickers off the suitcases before the thing gets stolen.
My head is overloaded with all this. I can’t even begin to describe how awesome this is. The Manned Spaceflight Programs of the late 50’s through the 70’s (Mercury/Gemini/Apollo) are among my passions.
This is phenomenal. I’m going to relish every episode.
P. S. Did the hotel know this was going on? What did you tell housekeeping?
Just awesome!
Lot’s of Gold . If you fix it will there be Moon Missions ? 🙂 QC
Scott sent me.
im sorry did anyone else hear "should we bow?"
Oh just some nerds making what looks like a bomb..
Thanks Scott!
Fantastic work! Thanks guys!
Historic early NASA technology, core rope memory, 64K? Amazing.
Flat earth’er and moon landing losers begone !
I believe Raytheon may still have the prints for the AGC? Maybe they would have sent someone out to assist?
I’ve been wondering does this old computer tech resist cosmic rays better? I imagine our computers nowadays are densely packed and more prone to failure, easily burned out.
You know what I just realized, there’s at least one more surviving original AGC out there. It’s still flying on Snoopy!!
Inspirational effort. Exactly what this nation needs right now.
Where did this AGC end up after the whole tour was over?
Nerdgasm. And there are twits who say it was all fake …. this stuff is all there and it all works. Thank you for bringing it back to life.
Thank you for assembling a playlist, Marc 🙂
okay let’s go through the series again… I mean this is better than cinema and on the second screen Kerbal Space Programm 😀
Imagine the maid just getting in and trowing everything thinking its a bunch of trash 😁😁😁
Oh gosh. <3
That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen I hope to God this goes down in history
Hahah the French interviewer adds a good dynamic
This is the nerdiest thing I’ve ever seen. Wow.
Why do they need gloves?
Here from the future:
That B1 module is bad btw. Have fun un-potting
That’s actually a brilliant way to test configurations for chips, obviously, obsolete today, because of simulated components, but still. Prolly should have gone full old school and used tall felt to push the chips in.
Massive kudos. Massive.
I wonder if they’ve had any help from universities or labs with remote imaging technology.
Just found this. Love the video series. Thanks so much for filming all of this.
For some reason Part 12 has been popping up in my suggestions for the past couple of days, so after watching the beginning of that, I decided to come back in order to watch the whole series. We are truly spoiled nowadays. When I was a kid in the early 80’s, tinkering around with my dad’s old radio’s and Hi Fi equipment (being completely unaware of what I was doing, but just ignorantly curious) the only available inspiration was the ‘How Things Work’ programs infrequently shown on UK TV, which I enjoyed watching. And now this! It’s like Christmas whenever you want it to be.