What happened after the alarms?

The computer prioritized key tasks and the landing continued

Apollo Guidance Computer Quiz: Rope Memory and the 1202 Alarm

This apollo guidance computer quiz rides along to the Moon. Play 10 interactive questions on MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory, core rope memory woven by hand, the DSKY keypad of verbs and nouns, early integrated circuits, Margaret Hamilton's software team, the 1202 alarms during Apollo 11's landing, and how much memory this famous machine actually had.

Start Apollo Guidance Computer Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

MIT
Which lab designed the computer?
Rope
What was the computer's fixed memory called?
Weave
How was rope memory made?
DSKY
What was the astronauts' keypad and display called?
Verb
How did astronauts give commands?
IC
Which new technology did it use early on?
Hamilton
Who led the software engineering team?
Alarm
Which alarm codes appeared during the Apollo 11 landing?
Result
What happened after the alarms?
Mem
How did its memory compare with modern phones?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which lab designed the computer?
Answer: MIT Instrumentation Laboratory
It later became Draper Laboratory.
Q2: What was the computer's fixed memory called?
Answer: Core rope memory
Wires threaded through magnetic cores.
Q3: How was rope memory made?
Answer: Woven by hand
Skilled workers threaded each wire.
Q4: What was the astronauts' keypad and display called?
Answer: DSKY
It is pronounced dis-key.
Q5: How did astronauts give commands?
Answer: Verb and noun number codes
Verbs were actions, nouns were data.
Q6: Which new technology did it use early on?
Answer: Integrated circuits
It was a major early buyer.
Q7: Who led the software engineering team?
Answer: Margaret Hamilton
She helped coin software engineering.
Q8: Which alarm codes appeared during the Apollo 11 landing?
Answer: 1201 and 1202
The computer was overloaded.
Q9: What happened after the alarms?
Answer: The computer prioritized key tasks and the landing continued
Mission control said go.
Q10: How did its memory compare with modern phones?
Answer: Tiny, only tens of kilobytes
About 72 KB of rope memory.

A Hand-Woven Computer for the Moon

The Apollo Guidance Computer was designed at MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory, later Draper Laboratory. Its fixed memory was core rope memory, woven by hand: wires threaded through or around magnetic cores stored ones and zeros, so programs were literally woven in. It held about 72 KB of rope memory, tiny by modern standards.

Astronauts used the DSKY, a keypad and display pronounced dis-key, entering verb and noun codes, where verbs were actions and nouns were data. The computer was an early major user of integrated circuits. Margaret Hamilton led the software engineering team and helped popularize the term software engineering.

During the Apollo 11 landing in 1969, 1201 and 1202 alarms showed the computer was overloaded. Its software prioritized the most important tasks, mission control called go, and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed safely.

What This Quiz Teaches

Space and tech fans will enjoy these questions.

Who designed it
How rope memory worked
How astronauts used it
What the alarms meant
How small it was

Did You Know?

Each Command and Lunar Module carried one.
Programs had names like Luminary.
Hobbyists have restored real units.
Rope memory could not be rewritten.
Its clock ran at about 1 MHz.