Since we're all doing this with computers over what started as the ARPANet, a little info on the Apollo 11 guidance computer.
Program memory 73,728 bytes (8 bit equivalent) (0.000073728 gigabyte)
Random access memory 4096 bytes (0.0000004096 gigabyte)
Memory was a matrix of bead-like magnetic cores strung with a spider web of hair-fine wire all assembled by hand
Processor hand wired, looks like wire wrap, discreet RTL integrated circuits
Speed 2.048 MHz
Weight 70 lbs
Power consumption 55 Watts (RTL chips were slow and power hungry)
Dimensions 24×12.5×6.5 inches
Compare that with your phone.
My computer runs at 3.4 GHz or 3,400 MHz.
Apollo communications were in the S band, 3-4 GHZ and very few people could eavesdrop on communications at that frequency which was chosen partly for privacy - in case things went badly. Now common computers can handle that speed. And your Wifi can handle those frequencies.
Heard it said, well actually read at the San Diego Air and Space Museum that a cell phone today has more computer power then the whole NASA control room during the Apollo 11 time frame!
I was but a young buck back then, but remember my great grand mother stating that the world would never be the same after a moon landing. She believed it would upset the "balance" of the world and change everything with the most noticeable thing being the weather!
Although I had entertained a career as a pilot/astronaut, I got distracted/derailed/missed the turn and went a different path, I am proud that my son is enjoying a career as one of the most experienced rocket propulsion engineers in the world today!
