David A. Mindell
Forfatter af Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight
Om forfatteren
David A. Mindell is Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is author or editor of several books, including Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight and Between Human and vis mere Machine: Feedback, Control, and Computing before Cybernetics, the latter published by Johns Hopkins. The first edition of Iron Coffin, titled War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor, won the Sally Hacker Prize from the Society for the History of Technology in 2001. vis mindre
Værker af David A. Mindell
Between Human and Machine: Feedback, Control, and Computing before Cybernetics (2002) 58 eksemplarer
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Firstly, it's fascinating to read this book if nothing but to learn about how embedded computing was handled 50 years ago. Software development was nowhere near as rigorous as it is today, nor was it taken even a quarter as seriously. Integrated circuit chips were new, and having two NOR gates on a single chip was a big deal. Wires wrapped around magnetic cores were used for memory. Yet, all of the hardware and software limitations of the day successfully landed SIX missions on the Moon, not to mention saved the lives of the astronauts in Apollo 13. I seriously could not get enough, reading about this.
In addition, this book is also about the interplay between the astronauts (mostly the pilots) and the guidance system developers. There were many opinions regarding fully automated landings vs. fully manual landings. The truth is that each of the Apollo landings was somewhere in the grey area in between both extremes. People involved in the Apollo program had no idea how much pilots could even handle for a landing, and if fully manual landings were even possible. To this end, they designed a training machine built to reproduce the LM as much as possible that could be used on Earth. That type of engineering solution to a problem (how can you practice landing on the Moon if you only get one shot to land there?) was really interesting to read about, and isn't discussed in most Apollo literature.
Finally, I got to read more about the actual lunar landings in this book than in any other book I've read about Apollo. They were fascinating, and, tying in with the above paragraph, really highlighted the subtle interplay between human and machine.
This is not an action-packed book about the heyday of Apollo. I loved the book and even I found it slow-going at times. That said, I would not recommend this book if you are not really into the topic at hand. Otherwise, it gets my full seal of approval!… (mere)