The computer that got us to the moon. The size of a briefcase, there had never been anything like it. Apollo 11 was “the first time software ran on the moon”. This is the story of the world’s first digital portable general purpose computer. The work of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, helped give rise to the digital age. With Kevin Fong. Starring: Ramon Alonso Elaine Denniston Charlie Duke Don Eyles Eldon Hall Margaret Hamilton Dan Lickly Theme music by Hans Zimmer for Bleeding Fingers Music #13MinutestotheMoon www.bbcworldservice.com/13minutes
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Okay, everybody, hang tight.
Seven and a half minutes, flight.
Guns is landing.
Radar is fixed to velocity's beautiful garage.
You're about to hear a crucial moment in the 13 minutes before the landing of Apollo eleven.
Right now, eagle, carrying Armstrong and Aldrin, is coming up on eight minutes into its powered descent, taking them towards the surface of the moon.
At this point, Armstrong and Orden can't actually see the moon because the lunar module is flying sideways across the lunar surface.
And inside, the astronauts are lying on their backs, looking through a pair of small triangular windows at the star filled skies above.