An Apollo 10 DSKY.
The DSKY has gone on to live a new life on the Internet. There's the Virtual
Apollo Guidance Computer's DSKY Emulator and Online Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC)
Simulator, an online Javascript DSKY
simulator, and even someone building a working, modern-day replica of the Apollo
Guidance Computer (along with a working DSKY; check out Part 5).
The sign at the display reads:
"The Fourth Crewmember"
1960s computers had the "smarts" of the average pocket calculator, yet such
machines guided nine Apollo missions to the Moon. The Apollo computer was a
rugged 60-pound bundle of copper wires. The astronauts respected it, relied on
it. It was so important that they dubbed it "the fourth crewmember."
The Display Keyboard (DSKY, pronounced "disky") was used to input data into the
Apollo Command module guidance computer. This one flew around the moon aboard
Apollo 10 in 1969.
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