[Robert A Cook PE]

And I think there was a similar article that said something like the old 286-12 computers had more power than the computers on the Apollo missions.
Oh hell, your digital watch has more processing power than those old Apollo IBM computers.

I didn't realize they were so low-powered - or that the digital watches had that much ooomph. Know of any equivalents or what system they used?

Look at the Apollo capsule interiors at the Smithsonian, Cape Canaveral, or Huntsville AL: That “computer” dead center of the three astronauts - in a capsule where 1/10 of an oz was a highly prized weight gain! - there is a four function calculator. 16 buttons. Multiple display “folded” tube lights for each number, in a box about 10x10x10. THAT was the “computer” sent into space by the best of what we had then.

[Oatka]

Look at the Apollo capsule interiors at the Smithsonian, Cape Canaveral, or Huntsville AL: That “computer” dead center of the three astronauts - in a capsule where 1/10 of an oz was a highly prized weight gain! - there is a four function calculator. 16 buttons. Multiple display “folded” tube lights for each number, in a box about 10x10x10. THAT was the “computer” sent into space by the best of what we had then.

OK, thanks. I'm a little rusty here. Was the flight controlled from earth or did the astronauts "fly" this thing. It seems to me there was some pressure to have the crew pilot the capsule, unlike the Russians who basically shot up a boiler with a guy in it and did all the controlling from earth. Guess I gotta do some research as I thought they had an early computer on board.