Michael Braukus<br />Headquarters, Washington<br />(Phone: 202/358-1979) Sept. 3, 2003<br /><br />RELEASE: 03-281<br /><br />NASA HONORS APOLLO ENGINEER <br /><br /> Margaret Hamilton, leader of the team that developed the <br />flight software for the agency's Apollo missions, has been <br />granted a NASA Exceptional Space Act Award for her scientific <br />and technical contributions. <br /><br />"The Apollo flight software Ms. Hamilton and her team <br />developed was truly a pioneering effort," said NASA <br />Administrator Sean O'Keefe. "The concepts she and her team <br />created became the building blocks for modern 'software <br />engineering.' It's an honor to recognize Ms. Hamilton for her <br />extraordinary contributions to NASA," he said.<br /><br />Dr. Paul Curto, senior technologist for NASA's Inventions and <br />Contributions Board nominated Hamilton for the award. Curto <br />said, "I was surprised to discover she was never formally <br />recognized for her groundbreaking work. Her concepts of <br />asynchronous software, priority scheduling, end-to-end <br />testing, and man-in-the-loop decision capability, such as <br />priority displays, became the foundation for ultra-reliable <br />software design."<br /><br />One example of the value of Hamilton's software work occurred <br />during the Apollo 11 mission. Approximately three minutes <br />before Eagle's touchdown on the moon, the software over rode a <br />command to switch the flight computer's priority processing to <br />a radar system whose 'on' switch had been manually activated <br />due to a faulty written operations script provided to the <br />crew. The action by the software permitted the mission to <br />safely continue.<br /><br />NASA's Space Act Award recognizes a specific scientific or <br />technical innovation of significant value to the agency's <br />aeronautical or space activities. Congress gave NASA the <br />authority to grant up to $100,000 for each innovation. <br />Included with the award, Hamilton received a check for <br />$37,200, the largest award to an individual in NASA's history.<br /><br />For information about NASA on the Internet, visit:<br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov