Mondo Knows Facts
Apollo 11 landed through a cascade of computer alarms
1202 and 1201 program alarms meant the guidance computer was shedding low priority work A radar switch left in the wrong position flooded the computer with data during descent. The software recovered by restarting lower priority tasks, and controller Jack Garman recognised the alarm codes as recoverable. The Eagle touched down with about 25 seconds of fuel left. It sits in Mondo's space collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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Tags: apollo, landing, software
Apollo 11 landed through a cascade of computer alarms: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- 1202 and 1201 program alarms meant the guidance computer was shedding low priority work. The figure is taken from NASA History, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a space fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Space shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.