Portal:Space exploration/Biography/Week 21 2007

John R. "Jack" Garman is a computer engineer. Formerly employed by NASA, he now works for Lockheed Martin. Garman was a key figure during the Apollo 11 lunar landing, during which he dealt with a computer alarm that could have caused the mission to be aborted.

At the age of twenty-one, Garman was hired by NASA. He chose to specialise in onboard computing and was assigned to the Apollo Guidance Program Section, where he worked with MIT, supervising the design and testing of the Apollo Guidance Computer.

During the descent of Apollo 11, the guidance computer came perilously close to overloading when a switch was set to the wrong position. "1201" and "1202" alarms, signifying an executive overflow, came up several times. Given his knowledge of the computer systems, Garman was able to advise Steve Bales that the computer could be relied upon to function adequately so long as the alarms did not become continuous. Apollo 11 landed successfully and Garman received an award from NASA for his role in the mission.

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