07/16/2019
Today on July 16th we're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch that enabled the first humans to step foot on our moon! Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. and Michael Collins boarded the Saturn V rocket and launched at 9:32 a.m. to begin their 238,900 mile journey!
It's common now for people to express that a modern smart phone has more computing power than the Apollo Guidance Computer aboard the command module, and while this is true, the AGC was a very specialized system in that had to perform it's tasks with extra dependability in mind.
Here is a photo of a modern day solid state computer storage drive that can hold up to 2 terabytes of information. The Apollo computer could hold approximately 38 thousands words, or roughly 6.94 billion times less information!
NASA bonus fun facts:
-The Saturn V stood 363 feet tall, longer than a football field!
-The crawler transporter's shoes for it's tracks weigh 2000 pounds each!
-The VAB (vehicle assembly building) uses 10,000 tons of air conditioning equipment to keep the inside environment in check as the building is so incredibly voluminous that storm clouds can form inside!
-The American flag on the side of the VAB is large enough where each stripe is as large as a lane on a highway.
-Yankee Stadium could fit on the roof of the VAB.
-The five Rocketdyne F1 engines powering stage 1 of the Saturn V rocket produced 32 million horsepower a piece!
