Skip to content

TechRepublic

  • Top Products
  • AI
  • Developer
  • Payroll
  • Security
  • Project Management
  • Accounting
  • CRM
  • Academy
Resources
  • TechRepublic Premium
  • TechRepublic Academy
  • Newsletters
  • Resource Library
  • Forums
  • Sponsored
Go Premium
Popular Topics
  • Top Products
  • AI
  • Developer
  • Payroll
  • Security
  • Project Management
  • Accounting
  • CRM
  • Academy
  • Project Management
  • Innovation
  • Cheat Sheets
  • Big Data
  • Tech Jobs
View All Topics
Go Premium
Innovation

Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

By Nick Heath November 14, 2017, 9:36 AM PST

Image
1
of 24

Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Discussing the mission

Image: NASA

Discussing the mission

Mission Control in Houston served as the brain trust for the Apollo missions.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

The Apollo 11 engineering team

Image: NASA

The Apollo 11 engineering team

Engineers gathered in the Mission Evaluation Room during Apollo 11.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Man on the Moon

Image: NASA

Man on the Moon

Buzz Aldrin’s famous moonwalk was made possible by some amazing computer programmers.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

The most famous footprint in history?

Image: NASA

The most famous footprint in history?

Buzz Aldrin’s footprint left quite a mark.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

A successful rescue

Image: NASA

A successful rescue

Three of NASA’s four Apollo 13 flight directors applaud the successful splashdown of the command module Odyssey, while Manned Spacecraft Center deputy director Dr. Christopher C. Kraft Jr. lights up cigars in the upper left.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Apollo programmer Homer Ahr

Image: Homer Ahr

Apollo programmer Homer Ahr

Modern day photo of Homer Ahr.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: Homer Ahr
2-rtcc2.jpg
2-rtcc2.jpg
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

The brain of mission control

Image: Homer Ahr/NASA

The brain of mission control

The Real-Time Computer Complex (RTCC) for the Apollo Program’s Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center. The RTCC was situated on the first floor in Building 30, below the Mission Operation Control Rooms. There were no windows to the outside world in any of these rooms.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: Homer Ahr/NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Homer Ahr, associate programmer, maneuver control

Image: IBM

Homer Ahr, associate programmer, maneuver control

Homer Ahr’s promotion ahead of the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969 is publicized in an IBM magazine from the time.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: IBM
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Recent college graduate Homer Ahr

Image: IBM

Recent college graduate Homer Ahr

Homer Ahr pictured a couple of months before the launch of the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: IBM
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Apollo 11 planned timeline

Image: Homer Ahr / NASA

Apollo 11 planned timeline

A timeline of key events in the forthcoming Apollo 11 mission, released a day before launch.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: Homer Ahr / NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Manning the console

Image: Homer Ahr / NASA

Manning the console

This is the RTCC console area where Ahr worked on the Dynamics Computer Console during Apollo 11.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: Homer Ahr / NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Homer Ahr, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

Image: Homer Ahr

Homer Ahr, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

The Presidential Medal of Freedom Award presented to Ahr for his work as part of the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: Homer Ahr
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

How to get in the door at NASA

Image: Homer Ahr

How to get in the door at NASA

Ahr’s Apollo 11 mission badge that allowed him entrance to the Mission Control Center during the mission.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: Homer Ahr
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Another angle of the RTCC

Image: NASA

Another angle of the RTCC

The Real-Time Computer Complex, taken from the Familiarization Manual for Mission Control Center Houston.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
9-05-apollo13missioncontrol.jpg
9-05-apollo13missioncontrol.jpg
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Live from Apollo 13

Live from Apollo 13

The Mission Operations Control Room in NASA’s Mission Control Center at the Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center) in Houston. The image was taken on April 13, 1970, during the fourth television transmission from the Apollo 13 mission.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Where the Apollo astronauts trained

Image: NASA

Where the Apollo astronauts trained

The Apollo command module mission simulator.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Apollo command module mission simulator

Image: NASA

Apollo command module mission simulator

The Apollo command module mission simulator at Manned Spacecraft Center, where Apollo astronauts practiced for their missions.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Celebrating the Apollo 11 landing

Image: NASA

Celebrating the Apollo 11 landing

Flight controllers celebrate the successful conclusion of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission in the Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission Control Center.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Walking on the Moon

Image: NASA

Walking on the Moon

Astronaut and lunar module pilot Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. beside the US flag on the lunar surface during Apollo 11. The lunar module is on the left, and the footprints of the astronauts are clearly visible in the soil of the moon.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

The brains of the Saturn V rocket

Image: NASA

The brains of the Saturn V rocket

The Saturn V Instrument Unit (IU), the “brains” of the Saturn V rocket, was manufactured at International Business Machines (IBM) in Huntsville, Alabama. The IU was three-feet tall, twenty-one feet in diameter, and weighed about 4,000 pounds, and contained the navigation, guidance, control, and sequencing equipment.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Apollo 13's main computer

Image: NASA

Apollo 13's main computer

The Apollo Display & Keyboard (DSKY) was the main interface with the Apollo Guidance Computer used onboard the spacecraft. This unit is from the main display console of the command module Odyssey used during Apollo 13.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Homer Ahr today

Image: IBM

Homer Ahr today

A modern day image of Homer Ahr.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: IBM
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Liftoff

Image: NASA

Liftoff

The launch of Apollo 4 was the first from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SEE: NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)

Image: NASA
Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

Ahr's guest pass from Apollo 17's launch

Image: Homer Ahr

Ahr's guest pass from Apollo 17's launch

The VIP parking pass and badge used by Homer Ahr and his wife Carol when they were IBM honored guests of the astronauts and the NASA Manned Flight Awareness Program for Apollo 17, the last mission to the moon and back.

Also see

  • Exomedicine arrives: How labs in space could pave the way for healthcare breakthroughs on Earth (PDF download) (TechRepublic cover story)
  • NASA shows the world its 20-year virtual reality experiment to train astronauts: The inside story (PDF download) (TechRepublic cover story)
  • How Mark Shuttleworth became the first African in space and launched a software revolution (PDF download) (TechRepublic cover story)
  • How a NASA team of black women ‘computers’ sent an astronaut into orbit in 1962
  • Photos: Space Tango’s autonomous lab at the International Space Station
  • Photos: Inside Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab
  • Check out Flipboard for more TechRepublic coverage about NASA and tech in space

Image: Homer Ahr
  • Innovation
  • Account Information

    Share with Your Friends

    Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA’s Apollo missions

    Your email has been sent

Share: Photos: The computer programmers behind NASA's Apollo missions
Image of Nick Heath
By Nick Heath
Nick Heath is a computer science student and was formerly a journalist at TechRepublic and ZDNet.
  • Account Information

    Contact Nick Heath

    Your message has been sent

  • |
  • See all of Nick's content

Daily Tech Insider

If you can only read one tech story a day, this is it.

TechRepublic TechRepublic
  • TechRepublic on Facebook
  • TechRepublic on X
  • TechRepublic on LinkedIn
  • TechRepublic on YouTube
  • TechRepublic on Pinterest
  • TechRepublic RSS
Services
  • About Us
  • Newsletters
  • RSS Feeds
  • Site Map
  • Site Help & Feedback
  • FAQ
  • Advertise
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • Careers
Explore
  • Downloads
  • TechRepublic Forums
  • Meet the Team
  • TechRepublic Academy
  • TechRepublic Premium
  • Resource Library
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Editorial Policy
  • Legal Terms
  • Privacy Policy
© 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All rights reserved.
CLOSE

Create a TechRepublic Account

Get the web's best business technology news, tutorials, reviews, trends, and analysis—in your inbox. Let's start with the basics.

Already registered? Sign In
Use Facebook
Use Linkedin

* - indicates required fields

CLOSE

Sign in to TechRepublic

Not a member? Create an account
Use Facebook
Use Linkedin

Lost your password? Request a new password

CLOSE

Reset Password

Please enter your email adress. You will receive an email message with instructions on how to reset your password.

Check your email for a password reset link. If you didn't receive an email don't forgot to check your spam folder, otherwise contact support.

Back to login
1 Finish Profile
2 Newsletter Preferences
CLOSE

Welcome. Tell us a little bit about you.

This will help us provide you with customized content.

No thanks, continue without
1 Finish Profile
2 Newsletter Preferences
CLOSE

Want to receive more TechRepublic news?

Newsletter Name
Subscribe
Daily Tech Insider
Daily Tech Insider AU
TechRepublic UK
TechRepublic News and Special Offers
TechRepublic News and Special Offers International
Executive Briefing
Innovation Insider
Project Management Insider
Microsoft Weekly
Cloud Insider
Data Insider
Developer Insider
TechRepublic Premium
Apple Weekly
Cybersecurity Insider
Google Weekly
Toggle All
No thanks, continue without

You're All Set

Thanks for signing up! Keep an eye out for a confirmation email from our team. To ensure any newsletters you subscribed to hit your inbox, make sure to add [email protected] to your contacts list.

Back to Home Page
×