The Code That Took America To The Moon

A user of Github has uploaded the entire code that built the flight software for the Apollo 11 space program.

Built in the 1960s, the program had to be invented from scratch as the technology had never before existed. The code was written and printed on stacks of paper which totalled more than 5 feet high. Former NASA intern Chris Garry uploaded the software in its entirety, discovering that the code was not only comprehensive and scientific, but contained jokes and 1960s references.

The source code files, for example, was titled ‘BURN_BABY_BURN—MASTER_IGNITION_ROUTINE,’ and there is code within that has nothing to do with the program but appeared to be engineers communicating with each other. In the same file, different coders say ‘see if he’s lying’ and ‘off to see the wizard.’

Engineering applicants should consider the complexity of building the moon launch equipment, while Computer Science applicants should consider how the development of code has changed over the past 5 decades.