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Apollo Guidance Computer Part 1: Restoring the computer that put man on the Moon

CuriousMarc · 588.4K views · 2018-11-14 · 21:04

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Overview

The first episode of CuriousMarc's series restoring a real Apollo Guidance Computer, led by AGC expert Mike Stewart. They set up a makeshift lab in a Houston hotel room to open up a rare machine owned by a private collector.

On Hacker News

HN people recommend the whole AGC restoration series as a deeply nerdy look at real Apollo-era hardware, including core rope memory.

Recommended by 8 HN people across 6 months · HN mentions 2019–2024

Topics

History of computingDemoscene & retrocomputingSpace exploration & spaceflight
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apolloagcretrocomputingcore rope memoryhardware restoration

What people said

cpascal · 2020-04 · Strong recommendation

My new favorite YouTuber, CuriousMarc, has a whole series of videos about restoring the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC). His AGC Playlist: [VIDEO] His channel is full of fascinating retro-computing and EE videos.

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crmrc114 · 2020-02 · Strong recommendation

I love his videos he has a webpage with merch if you want to support him [LINK] If you are new to his channel I cannot recommend enough the Apollo AGC videos [VIDEO]

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CableNinja · 2024-11 · Recommendation

CuriousMarc on Youtube has a very large playlist of him and a few others restoring the apollo systems they have been able to get their hands on, and youre absolutely correct on the hacky possibilities. There was no authentication, just lock on and issue commands. They were not only able to restore pretty much everything to a working apollo comms and control system, they were even able to use lab equipment to communicate with apollo outright. I linked the first part of the series. Its a long one but very worth the watch even if you arent into everything they cover. Many sats were and are similar, theres not much security. Newer ones with specific uses are most definitely encrypted. The only real saving grace is that the size of dish/antenna and power you need to do anything with stuff actually in space at long distances is beyond what most people could do (not saying a very dedicated nerd couldnt, look at SaveItForParts for example). [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by CuriousMarc, played through YouTube.

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