full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Matt Porter and Margaret Hamilton: NASA's first software engineer Margaret Hamilton

Unscramble the Blue Letters


After this breakthrough, Margaret realized her software could help the astronauts work in an asynchronous environment as well. She designed pitrrioy Displays that would interrupt astronaut’s regularly scheduled tasks to warn them of emergencies. The astronaut could then communicate with Mission ctoronl to determine the best path forward. This marked the first time flight software camoetimcnud directly— and asynchronously— with a polit.

It was these fail safes that triggered the alarms just before the lunar landing. Buzz Aldrin quickly rlieazed his mistake— he’d inadvertently flipped the rendezvous radar scitwh. This radar would be essential on their journey home, but here it was using up vital computational resources. Fortunately, the Apollo Guidance Computer was well equipped to manage this. During the overload, the software restart prrogams allowed only the hshiegt priority jobs to be processed— iidnlncug the programs necessary for lanindg. The Priority Displays gave the atsoatnrus a choice— to land or not to land. With minutes to spare, moisisn Control gave the order.

Open Cloze


After this breakthrough, Margaret realized her software could help the astronauts work in an asynchronous environment as well. She designed ________ Displays that would interrupt astronaut’s regularly scheduled tasks to warn them of emergencies. The astronaut could then communicate with Mission _______ to determine the best path forward. This marked the first time flight software ____________ directly— and asynchronously— with a _____.

It was these fail safes that triggered the alarms just before the lunar landing. Buzz Aldrin quickly ________ his mistake— he’d inadvertently flipped the rendezvous radar ______. This radar would be essential on their journey home, but here it was using up vital computational resources. Fortunately, the Apollo Guidance Computer was well equipped to manage this. During the overload, the software restart ________ allowed only the _______ priority jobs to be processed— _________ the programs necessary for _______. The Priority Displays gave the __________ a choice— to land or not to land. With minutes to spare, _______ Control gave the order.

Solution


  1. including
  2. communicated
  3. switch
  4. pilot
  5. realized
  6. control
  7. programs
  8. landing
  9. mission
  10. highest
  11. astronauts
  12. priority

Original Text


After this breakthrough, Margaret realized her software could help the astronauts work in an asynchronous environment as well. She designed Priority Displays that would interrupt astronaut’s regularly scheduled tasks to warn them of emergencies. The astronaut could then communicate with Mission Control to determine the best path forward. This marked the first time flight software communicated directly— and asynchronously— with a pilot.

It was these fail safes that triggered the alarms just before the lunar landing. Buzz Aldrin quickly realized his mistake— he’d inadvertently flipped the rendezvous radar switch. This radar would be essential on their journey home, but here it was using up vital computational resources. Fortunately, the Apollo Guidance Computer was well equipped to manage this. During the overload, the software restart programs allowed only the highest priority jobs to be processed— including the programs necessary for landing. The Priority Displays gave the astronauts a choice— to land or not to land. With minutes to spare, Mission Control gave the order.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
developing software 2
apollo guidance 2
guidance computer 2
flight software 2
priority displays 2
mission control 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
apollo guidance computer 2

Important Words


  1. alarms
  2. aldrin
  3. allowed
  4. apollo
  5. astronaut
  6. astronauts
  7. asynchronous
  8. breakthrough
  9. buzz
  10. communicate
  11. communicated
  12. computational
  13. computer
  14. control
  15. designed
  16. determine
  17. displays
  18. emergencies
  19. environment
  20. equipped
  21. essential
  22. fail
  23. flight
  24. flipped
  25. fortunately
  26. gave
  27. guidance
  28. highest
  29. home
  30. inadvertently
  31. including
  32. interrupt
  33. jobs
  34. journey
  35. land
  36. landing
  37. lunar
  38. manage
  39. margaret
  40. marked
  41. minutes
  42. mission
  43. order
  44. overload
  45. path
  46. pilot
  47. priority
  48. programs
  49. quickly
  50. radar
  51. realized
  52. regularly
  53. rendezvous
  54. resources
  55. restart
  56. safes
  57. scheduled
  58. software
  59. spare
  60. switch
  61. tasks
  62. time
  63. triggered
  64. vital
  65. warn
  66. work