Apollo Guidance Computer Part 1: Restoring the computer that put man on the Moon

Marc Verdiell and a team of experts begin the process of restoring an original Apollo Guidance Computer to working order.

We embark on the restoration of a very rare and historically significant machine: the Apollo Guidance Computer, or AGC. It was the revolutionary MIT-designed computer aboard Apollo that brought man on the Moon (and back!). Mike Stewart, space engineer extraordinaire and living AGC encyclopedia, spearheads this restoration effort. In this first episode, we setup a makeshift lab in his hotel room, somewhere in Houston. The computer belongs to a delightful private collector, Jimmie Loocke, who has generously allowed us to dive in the guts of his precious machine, with the hope of restoring it to full functionality by July 2019, the anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. Frequent comment answers: Yes we know about Francois Rautenbach and the Block I core ropes (youtu.be/WquhaobDqLU). These ropes are also from Jimmie and not compatible with our Block II computer Yes we are in contact with Fran youtu.be/UjcfepTdvZI (and several others) about their superb DSKYs replicas. Some relevant links: Playlist of the restoration series: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-_93BVApb59FWrLZfdlisi_x7-Ut_-w7 Block I AGC period documentary: youtu.be/ndvmFlg1WmE Inertial navigation system documentary: youtu.be/wD97RSpiZe0 Schematics: ibiblio.org/apollo/ElectroMechanical.html and: archive.org/details/agc_handbook_jp2 Mike's AGC backplane viewer: apolloguidance.computer/2003100_071/pins AGC software repo: github.com/virtualagc/virtualagc The Ultimate Apollo Guidance Computer Talk: youtu.be/xx7Lfh5SKUQ Our sponsor for PCBs: pcbway.com Support the team on Patreon: patreon.com/curiousmarc Merch on Teespring: teespring.com/stores/curiousmarcs-store Learn more on companion site: curiousmarc.com Contact info: youtube.com/curiousmarc/about