The MIT computer scientist led the team behind Apollo’s flight software and helped pioneer software engineering as a profession.

Margaret Hamilton, the pioneering computer scientist whose software helped guide NASA’s Apollo astronauts safely to the Moon, has died at the age of 90.

 The Massachusetts Institute of Technology confirmed that Hamilton died on September 30, although the cause of death was not disclosed.

Hamilton joined MIT in 1959 and later headed its Software Engineering Division at the Instrumentation Laboratory, which secured a NASA contract in 1961. She eventually led a team of about 100 engineers responsible for developing the software that guided Apollo spacecraft, helping establish software development as a critical discipline in complex missions.

Her work proved particularly important during the historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

 Just minutes before the lunar landing, Hamilton’s software detected and prioritized critical tasks when the onboard computer became overloaded by unnecessary radar data, allowing the system to continue operating and the astronauts to proceed with the landing.

 NASA later credited the software with helping the mission safely continue.

Hamilton was also known for designing software with failure prevention in mind. One example came after her young daughter accidentally crashed an Apollo simulator while playing with it, prompting Hamilton to create safeguards that could prevent similar errors from occurring during an actual spaceflight.

Born in Paoli, Indiana, in 1936, Hamilton studied mathematics at Earlham College and built a career at the intersection of mathematics, computing and aerospace. 

She later founded her own software company and received NASA’s Exceptional Space Act Award in 2003.

Her contributions earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 presented by then President Barack Obama. MIT and colleagues have since described her as a foundational figure in software engineering whose work helped make one of humanity’s most ambitious technological achievements possible.