Margaret Hamilton dies at 90

Margaret Hamilton, the software engineer who led the development of onboard flight software for NASA's Apollo program, has died at 90.

FTMQ Startups, written by our newsroom9 October 2026 at 01:010 views

Software pioneer Margaret Hamilton, who led the development of onboard flight software for NASA's Apollo program during the 1960s, has died at the age of 90, Ars Technica, the BBC, and MIT News reported. [1][2][4]

Ars Technica reported that Hamilton coined the term "software engineering" and created the code that helped save the Apollo 11 Moon landing. After her work at NASA, she went on to found two successful software companies. [1]

The Apollo Guidance Computer provided computation and electronic interfaces for guidance, navigation, and control of the spacecraft. It was the first computer based on silicon integrated circuits. Neil Armstrong served as commander of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. [8][9]

Hamilton received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, according to Ars Technica. The following year, Lego immortalized her as a minifigure in its "Women of NASA" set alongside astronauts Mae Jemison and Sally Ride. [1]

Margaret Hamilton died at the age of 90.
She led the development of onboard flight software for NASA's Apollo program.
Hamilton coined the term software engineering and founded two software companies.
She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

Sources

Every paragraph above points to the numbered items it rests on. Read the originals here.

[1]R.I.P. Margaret Hamilton, whose code saved the Apollo 11 Moon landingArs Technica, 4h ago (the report this story comes from)
[2]Margaret Hamilton, whose software helped land Apollo 11 on the Moon, dies at 90BBC, 20h ago
[3]Margaret Hamilton Who Saved The Apollo 11 Moon Landing Dies At 90HotHardware, 10h ago
[4]Margaret Hamilton, computing pioneer who led software development for the Apollo program, dies at 90MIT News, 1d ago
[5]Margaret Hamilton, whose code saved the Apollo 11 landing, diesAround Prague, 13h ago
[6]Margaret Hamilton obituary: Apollo missions software engineerThe Times, 17h ago

Background

[7]Margaret Hamilton (actress) on Wikipedia
[8]Apollo Guidance Computer on Wikipedia
[9]Neil Armstrong on Wikipedia
[10]Apollo on Grokipedia

Our newsroom writes these reports with the help of software, from the 10 sources listed and nothing else, and checks them against those sources. Facts can still be wrong or move on; the originals are the record. Spotted a mistake? Write to daniel@monsterkong.com.

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