Digital Apollo, David A. Mindell
Digital Apollo, David A. Mindell
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Digital Apollo
Human and Machine in Spaceflight

Author: David A. Mindell

Narrator: Kyle Tait

Unabridged: 13 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/19/2019

Synopsis

As Apollo 11's Lunar Module descended toward the moon under automatic control, a program alarm in the guidance computer's software nearly caused a mission abort. Neil Armstrong responded by switching off the automatic mode and taking direct control. He stopped monitoring the computer and began flying the spacecraft, relying on skill to land it and earning praise for a triumph of human over machine. In Digital Apollo, engineer-historian David Mindell takes this famous moment as a starting point for an exploration of the relationship between humans and computers in the Apollo program.

Digital Apollo examines the design and execution of each of the six Apollo moon landings, drawing on transcripts and data telemetry from the flights, astronaut interviews, and NASA's extensive archives. Mindell's exploration of how human pilots and automated systems worked together to achieve the ultimate in flight—a lunar landing—traces and reframes the debate over the future of humans and automation in space. The results have implications for any venture in which human roles seem threatened by automated systems, whether it is the work at our desktops or the future of exploration.

About David A. Mindell

David A. Mindell is Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing at MIT. He has twenty-five years of experience as an engineer in undersea robotic exploration, as a veteran of more than thirty oceanographic expeditions, and as a pilot and engineer of autonomous aircraft. He is the award-winning author of Iron Coffin: War Technology and Experience Aboard the USS Monitor and Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight. He founded Humatics Corporation, which creates technologies to render autonomy transparent, safe, and trustworthy by transforming how robots and autonomous systems work in human environments.

Reviews

Goodreads review by David on July 09, 2012

I think it's important to note that this book is really about its subtitle, not it's title. That is, it's more about Human and Machine in Spaceflight than it is about Digital Apollo. In fact, it may surprise you to know that nearly the first third of the book goes by little more than brief mentions......more

Goodreads review by Ushan on April 02, 2014

As Tom Wolfe tells in much detail in The Right Stuff, early American astronauts were test pilots who wanted to fly their spacecraft, not just passively sit inside and let ground control or onboard computers fly them. Note that the computers of the time were very primitive by the standard of today, a......more

Goodreads review by Michael on January 27, 2025

Digital Apollo is the serious, sober, scholarly take on the golden age of the space program, the same basic ground as Tom Wolfe's classic account The Right Stuff, but with a unique and fascinating viewpoint on how Apollo drove innovation in human and computer interaction. Lunar Excursion Module Eagle......more

Goodreads review by Ami on March 03, 2018

It's the programming and practical for the plan of Apollo .......more

Goodreads review by Ari on April 29, 2013

Primarily not about the underlying computer technology (though that is covered in some detail.) The real topic is the social process that led to the decision of what to automate, and of how the technology was used. Something I hadn't previously understood is that Apollo had much more automation than......more

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