How NASA upended internal processes to prepare for its next lunar mission

When NASA sent the first humans to the moon 50 years ago this year, the development of computers was in a nascent stage. The Apollo 11 spacecraft touted one of its own on board: just over 70 pounds and 24 by 12.5 by 6 inches.

Fifty years later, NASA is planning again to launch people to the moon, targeting a 2024 moon landing and later looking toward Mars through its Artemis program. Technology has advanced greatly in the last 50 years, which also transforms the risk.

For the moon mission, astronauts will travel in the Orion space vehicle, being built by Lockheed Martin. Like many government platforms today, the functions of the vehicle rely on software — and any bugs in the code could potentially catastrophic effects.

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