T+40: The Three Greatest Hacks of Apollo

Presented at The Next HOPE (2010), July 17, 2010, 10 a.m. (60 minutes).

Forty years ago, manned exploration of the moon was in full swing. The three greatest hacks of the Apollo program occurred on Apollo 12, 13, and 14, in two cases saving the mission, and in one case saving lives. Drawing on personal interviews with the engineers involved and archival records, this talk will look at the technical aspects of each hack, including largely overlooked, but critical, details of how the lunar module was prepared for lifeboat mode during the Apollo 13 crisis.


Presenters:

  • Stephen Cass
    Stephen Cass was born and raised in Dublin, but now hails from Boston. He cut his programming teeth on a TI 99-4/A and a totally pimped out BBC Model B+, back when 32 kB of memory was a big deal. Currently a senior editor for Technology Review, published by MIT, he has spent a decade covering space for IEEE Spectrum and Discover Magazine and currently edits Technology Review's Delta-V blog on space technology.

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