In 1965, engineers were building a computer to fly men to the moon. It had to survive a rocket launch and the vacuum of space. It could not be erased by a power failure, a hard landing, or anything short of physical destruction. They needed to make the code permanent. They needed to weave it.In this episodeHilda Carpenter - MIT technician who assembled the first magnetic-core memory planeThe Raytheon weavers - Textile workers and watchmakers recruited to encode Apollo's computerThe Fairchild Semiconductor plant - Where Navajo women built integrated circuits so men could walk on the moonEpisode MusicJames Opie / Nihilore, CC BY 4.0"Those 2 Saints""Evening Drum""No History Should Be Silenced""Behind the Mask"Additional ReadingCuriousMarc. (2019). Core memory explained and demonstrated [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/AwsInQLmjXcNakamura, L. (2014). Indigenous circuits. Computer History Museum. https://computerhistory.org/blog/indigenous-circuits/Rankin, J. L. (2022, February 18). Core memory weavers and Navajo women made the Apollo missions possible. Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/core-memory-weavers-navajo-apollo-raytheon-computer-nasaShirriff, K. (2019). Software woven into wire. Ken Shirriff's Blog. https://www.righto.com/2019/07/software-woven-into-wire-core-rope-and.htmlStark, L. (2018). Hilda wove all those wires [Zine]. https://www.liza-stark.com/projects/zines/hilda.htmlVirginia Museum of Fine Arts. (2017). "Hear my voice" artist profile: D.Y. Begay [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9wmz5rf1NUSupport the showFound in the Machine is a narrative technology podcast about the forgotten history of computing, software, and the internet. Hosted by Daina Bouquin, each episode uncovers the true story behind a piece of computer history. These are the forgotten people, decisions, and accidents that quietly shaped the digital world. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You can support the show and independent booksellers by purchasing from the show's bookshop at bookshop.org/shop/foundinthemachine.You can also support the show by donating at buymeacoffee.com/foundinthemachine.