Pioneer of Apollo software, Margaret Hamilton, dies at 90

Margaret Hamilton, a mathematician turned computer scientist, passed away at 90, as announced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she spent nearly two decades. At MIT she led the software team that built the flight computer for the Apollo lunar missions, a system described as one of humanity's most complex. Her work introduced priority task management software that helped the Apollo 11 lunar module land safely.

After leaving MIT in 1976 she started her own software firm and became a prominent figure for women in science. In 2016 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama. NASA’s current Artemis-3 mission, aiming to return humans to the Moon by 2027, builds on the legacy she helped create.