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Margaret Hamilton Led Apollo Software Team, Dies at 90

By Drooid · Oct 8, 2026, 3:35 AM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Margaret Hamilton died at age 90 on Sept. 30 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
She led a 100-person team that wrote Apollo software guiding Armstrong and Aldrin to the moon.
She was the first female programmer hired for Apollo at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab in 1965.
She received the 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama for her software architecture.

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Story summary

Margaret Hamilton died at age 90 on Sept. 30 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
She led a 100-person team that wrote Apollo software guiding Armstrong and Aldrin to the moon.
She was the first female programmer hired for Apollo at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab in 1965.
She received the 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama for her software architecture.