page_title: Draper Laboratory
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Draper Laboratory / History
caption_attribution_description: Die DSKY-Einheit des Apollo Guidance Computers (AGC) in der Armaturentafel des Kommandomoduls The DSKY-Unit of the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) mounted on the control panel of the command module (CM). Klawiatura i wyświetlacz (DSKY) komputera modułu dowodzenia ang. Command Module Computer (CMC) zamontowany na panelu głównym.
context_page_description: Draper Laboratory is an American not-for-profit research and development organization, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts; its official name is The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. The laboratory specializes in the design, development, and deployment of advanced technology solutions to problems in national security, space exploration, health care and energy.
  The laboratory was founded in 1932 by Charles Stark Draper at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop aeronautical instrumentation, and came to be called the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. During this period is best known for developing the Apollo Guidance Computer, the first silicon integrated circuit based computer. It was renamed for its founder in 1970, and separated from MIT in 1973 to become an independent, non-profit organization.
  The expertise of the laboratory staff includes the areas of guidance, navigation, and control technologies and systems; fault-tolerant computing; advanced algorithms and software systems; modeling and simulation; and microelectromechanical systems and multichip module technology.
context_section_description: In 1932 Charles Stark Draper, an MIT aeronautics professor, founded a teaching laboratory to develop the instrumentation needed for tracking, controlling and navigating aircraft. During World War II, Draper's lab was known as the Confidential Instrument Development Laboratory. Later, the name was changed to the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory or I-Lab. As of 1970, it was located at 45 Osborn Street in Cambridge. 
  The laboratory was renamed for its founder in 1970 and remained a part of MIT until 1973 when it became an independent, not-for-profit research and development corporation. The transition to an independent corporation arose out of pressures for divestment of MIT laboratories doing military research at the time of the Vietnam War, despite the absence of a role of the laboratory in that war.  
  As it divested from MIT, the laboratory was initially moved to 75 Cambridge Parkway and other scattered buildings near MIT, until a centralized new building could be erected at 555 Technology Square. In later years the Albert Hill Building was constructed on the other side of Broadway, and connected via a securely enclosed pedestrian skybridge. A formerly open courtyard between the original buildings was converted into an enclosed multistory atrium to accommodate security scanning, reception, semipublic areas, and employee dining facilities.
  A primary focus of the laboratory's programs throughout its history has been the development and early application of advanced guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) technologies to meet the needs of the US Department of Defense and NASA. The laboratory's achievements include the design and development of accurate and reliable guidance systems for undersea-launched ballistic missiles, as well as for the Apollo Guidance Computer that unfailingly guided the Apollo astronauts to the Moon and back safely to Earth. The laboratory contributed to the development of inertial sensors, software, and other systems for the GN&C of commercial and military aircraft, submarines, strategic and tactical missiles, spacecraft, and uncrewed vehicles.
  This included work by programmers such as Don Eyles and Margaret Hamilton, who coded onboard mission software for the NASA Apollo 11 moon landing. Inertial-based GN&C systems were central for navigating ballistic missile submarines for long periods of time undersea to avoid detection, and guiding their submarine-launched ballistic missiles to their targets, starting with the UGM-27 Polaris missile program.
caption: The display and keyboard (DSKY) interface of the Apollo Guidance Computer, mounted on the control panel of the Command Module, with the Flight Director Attitude Indicator (FDAI) above
exif: {}