In Orbit

When people think about the Apollo 11 moon landing, they usually think about the astronauts who made history by walking on the Moon. However, one of the people who helped make that possible stayed on Earth. Margaret Hamilton was a computer scientist who led the team that developed the software used in NASA’s Apollo missions. She passed away on September 30, 2026, at 90, but her work continues to shape space exploration today. As a woman interested in physics, astronomy, and NASA, I find Hamilton’s work interesting because it shows how much goes into space exploration beyond rockets and astronauts, and how important women have been in the field, even if their voices aren’t always heard. In the 1960s, she led the MIT team that created the software for the Apollo missions. During the Apollo 11 landing, the guidance computer sounded alarms, but her software, designed to focus on the most important elements, kept running what was needed to land and helped the mission complete safely. Her work shows how much goes into physics and engineering. She didn’t just have to understand how the elements worked; she also had to figure out how to make them work in real time, in the real world. Her career shows that there are many ways to be part of space exploration. You don’t have to be an astronaut; instead, you could be the person building what makes it possible.