[nj_pilot]

the Apollo 11 landing buffer-overload problem. What was that?

[edwin hubble]

"the Apollo 11 landing buffer-overload problem. What was that?"

It is well worth seeing the NOVA show on this incident. It is a white-knuckle close call, involving a computer.

As Apollo 11 descended from orbit and headed to the landing spot in Sea of Tranquility, the onboard system was designed to automatically read the speed and altitude and adjust the thrusters rockets for a steady landing.

But the data was coming in faster than the input buffer on the computer could handle, and malfunctioned. (The on-board computer was smaller than today's TI-83 used in high school classes).

Buzz Aldrin took over the controls manually. He maneuvered past a field of huge boulders. Landed with only a few seconds of fuel left. (A few seconds from certain death).

So, part of it was a computer problem; part of it a bad LZ.