In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo lunar landing, July 20, 2009, Draper Laboratory sponsored and participated in a number of activities in the months leading up to the anniversary. They are outlined below.
Apollo artifacts from Draper on display at MIT Museum through September 13
The simulator of the guidance, navigation, and control system designed and developed by the MIT Instrumentation Lab (later Draper Laboratory) for the Apollo spacecraft is on loan to the MIT Museum and is on display in an exhibit entitled MIT Goes to the Moon through Sept. 13. This is the first time the simulator has been on display for public viewing. The exhibit includes a composite of photographs provided by Draper of a blackboard drawing of the Apollo Block II Command Module GN&C Block Diagram from 1964.
Apollo computer code on display in art installation at MIT List Visual Arts Center until July 12
Draper provided access to printed computer code from the Apollo Program missions from the Draper records in the collection of the MIT Museum so that it could be copied and displayed in an art installation at the MIT List Visual Arts Center. The installation, called The Immeasurable Distance, by Matthew Day Jackson, was on display May 8 through July 12, 2009.
Draper sponsored development of traveling exhibition on current research in air and space
Draper sponsored a traveling exhibit for students in middle school and high school, which was developed by the MIT Museum in collaboration with the Museum of Science, Boston, and MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The exhibit features profiles of students and young faculty members of MIT’s Aero/Astro Dept. who are pursuing research in air and space—ranging from designing airplanes to planning for human travel to Mars. The traveling exhibit was displayed at the MIT Museum June 10-14 to coincide with the Giant Leaps symposium at MIT and will be on display at the museum for much of the summer. Starting in the fall, the traveling exhibit will be lent to schools and libraries free of charge.
Draper was a lead sponsor of Giant Leaps symposium at MIT June 10-12
Draper Lab was a lead sponsor of the Giant Leaps symposium held at MIT June 10-12, which celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the Apollo lunar landing and looked ahead to the future of aerospace. Draper supported the symposium in a variety of ways.
President Jim Shields gave the introduction to the symposium's first session, Apollo: Reflections and Lessons, on June 11 at 9 a.m. In his remarks Shields gave an overview of the Laboratory’s history, including its origins as a teaching lab founded by MIT professor Doc Draper; its coalescence into the MIT Instrumentation Lab, which received the contract to design and develop the guidance, navigation, and control system for the Apollo spacecraft, hardware and software; its incorporation as Draper Laboratory, Inc., in 1973; and its current activities, including its work in space and its sponsorship of graduate student education through the Draper Fellow program, notably with MIT and its Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
At a welcoming reception on June 10, the Space Systems panels from Draper's annual Technology Exposition were displayed. A video featuring interviews with a number of Lab retirees who worked on Apollo guidance system ran on a loop at the display. The video was an episode on the navigation computer that was part of a documentary series about the Apollo Program and its technology entitled Moon Machines originally broadcast on The Discovery Channel in 2008. The display was staffed by Space Systems Group Leader Tye Brady, Human Systems Collaboration
Draper hosted a tour led by Space Systems Director Seamus Tuohy for a small group of symposium attendees on June 12 to learn about Draper's contributions to the Apollo Program and its current work on space programs.
A model of the Apollo Command and Service Modules used by engineers for visualization during the Apollo Program was put on display at Boston Symphony Hall in early June as part of the regional celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo lunar landing, principally for the MIT Giant Leaps night at the Boston Pops. The model was displayed there until the end of the Pops season in early July. |
