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The Woman Who Took Humanity to the Moon
The often forgotten story of the MIT coder who took humanity to the moon
When we talk about the Apollo 11 mission we often forget about all of the people who made the flight happen and focus on the key three astronauts who made the journey to the moon and back. Although a big achievement, their journey would not have been possible without the hard work of the men and women back on earth.
Out of these men and women, I would like to explore the life of perhaps one of the most underappreciated members of the Apollo 11 programme, Margaret Hamilton, of crucial member of the team which developed the software used in the Apollo 11 shuttle. Software without which the mission would have been impossible.
A small town in Indiana
Hamilton was born on August 17, 1936, in the small town of Paoli, Indiana as the oldest child of the family having 2 more siblings being born after her. Hamilton wouldn’t spend long in Paoli as her family moved shortly after her birth to Michigan. In Michigan, Hamilton would attend a local high school then move on to study maths at the University of Michigan.
