The Mad Penguin

To quote the Bad Astronomer, “This picture is totally freaking cool”

A number of years ago I read a contractor’s report about Computers In Spaceflight.  It was fascinating to me to understand just how much went into this one facet of space programs, and just how little computing power it took.  Any college student familiar with basic electronics can understand the fundamentals of these early computers, but the true magic was what the programmers did to squeeze so much out of such a “small” package.  Now it’s easier for us to have one of our very own thanks to one man’s hard work.