1944
IBM helps to design and build the Automatic
Sequence Controlled Calculator for
Harvard University. It is used by Navy scientists to prepare
ballistic tables.
1951
An IBM Card Programmed Calculator (CPC),
a card-operated system and the first digital computer
used in the space program, is used in the development
of the U.S. Army Redstone missile. The CPC adds figures
at a rate of 2,174 a minute.
1952
The Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. -- then
part of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
(a forerunner of NASA) -- begins studies of multistage,
solid fuel rockets. Langley uses one of the IBM Card
Programmed Calculators for
its engineering calculations.
1953
IBM announces the 650
Magnetic Drum Calculator,
an intermediate-sized computer. The 650 is used in the
design of the Jupiter C rocket.
IBM delivers one of its first 701 computers to Convair, the developer of the Atlas missile (which is later used in the Mercury program).
1954
IBM introduces the 704
computer,
which is applied in satellite tracking and missile design.
1955
The U.S. Army's Computational Laboratory in the
Guided Missile Division — which later becomes part of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Marshall
Space Flight Center — uses two IBM
650 computers
to design the Jupiter C (Composite Reentry Test Vehicle),
which consists of a modified Redstone missile and upper
stages. The IBM 650 is a workhorse general purpose digital
computer capable of performing 78,000 additions a minute.
1956
The United States Navy announces that an IBM
704 computer will
receive telemetry data from the unmanned Vanguard satellite
to calculate and predict the orbit of the 20- inch sphere.
Priority development of the Jupiter missile is under way using an IBM 704, the first large-scale electronic computer used by the U.S. Army at Huntsville, Ala. Its magnetic tape system is capable of adding figures at a rate of 1,496,000 a minute.
1957
Two IBM 704 computers
are used to track the Soviet Union's Sputnik I, the world's
first artificial satellite.
1958
An IBM
705 computer
at IBM's Vanguard Computing Center aids in the launch
and tracking
of Explorer I, the
first non-Soviet Earth satellite. The satellite discloses
evidence of Earth-circling radiation belts. The 705 data
processing system is a powerful magnetic tape computer
capable of 1,364,000 logical decisions a minute.
Vanguard I, a 3.2-pound satellite, reaches record heights.
An IBM 704 computer aids in the design and tracking of space vehicles.
IBM develops the ASC-15 guidance computer for the United States Air Force Titan II missile computer.
1959
The United States accelerates its satellite launching
program, including the first U.S. flight of monkeys (Able
and Baker) into outer space. An IBM
709 data
processing system is used in this effort. The 709 provides
greatly increased computing power and is able to perform
2,496,000 logical decisions a minute.
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