With those words, humankind entered a new era on July 20, 1969. No longer would every human footprint be found only on Planet Earth.

The Apollo 11 mission was one of the 20th century's greatest achievements, whether in the field of science, engineering, government or computing. Forty years later, IBMers continue to take pride in our service in all of those domains.

For IBM, involvement in space exploration began in 1944, when the company designed and built the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator for Harvard University—to be used later by Navy scientists to prepare ballistic tables. Later, throughout the Mercury and Gemini missions—and particularly with the Apollo project—our best and brightest were put to the service of the U.S.government and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

On July 20, 1969, with the landing on the moon of the Apollo 11 module, we reached a high point in our achievements for the Federal government, for the still-young computing industry and for science and engineering. And throughout the Apollo 11 mission, NASA had relied on IBM and IBMers for computational power and dedication.

For example, an IBM System/360 (Model 75) processed the data for the first lunar landing 240,000 miles away from the moon at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas. It was one of five System/360s used by NASA for the Apollo 11 mission, and the same computer that later calculated the liftoff data needed by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin to rendezvous back with the command module piloted by Michael Collins for the flight back to Earth.

And the Saturn V rocket that launched Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins into space on July 16 relied on a three-foot high, 21-foot diameter ring to get the astronauts safely on course to the moon. Designed by NASA and built and programmed by IBM, the Saturn instrument unit was the computer nerve center for the launch vehicle. After less than six hours of measuring key functions, radioing on-board activity to Earth, and computing guidance and engine control, the unit completed its life's work. At that point, when the third-stage Saturn V engine was expended, this unique computer ring was turned loose to orbit the Sun.

Having clients like NASA gives IBM the opportunity to break new ground and challenge ourselves to develop the cutting edge in information and data management. At another level, however, the work is very close to the other kind of work we do all the time for governments, businesses and other organizations.

Whether it's tracking the status of a moon rocket or an ATM transaction, rerouting an Apollo command module or traffic in Singapore—or creating new technology for space agencies or video game consoles—IBM's real deliverable has always been its expertise in understanding and integrating complex systems.

It's the same point of view that allows IBM to look at the world today and see the opportunity to build a "smarter planet"—to make its complex systems instrumented, interconnected and intelligent. And as the Apollo missions demonstrated, sometimes that expertise can even take us off the planet and to the moon.