Peter Adler

Peter Adler joined the Instrumentation Lab in January 1967 after graduating from MIT the previous year and worked in software and computer engineering. The IL was six years into the Apollo contract. Adler’s course experience at MIT allowed him the opportunity to develop software for the Lunar Module. He worked with Don Eyles to program the Lunar Module’s flight routines. While Eyles worked on the descent, Adler was in charge of writing the software that handled the powered flight phases for the Lunar Module. Although possibly less exciting than landing, it was nonetheless incredibly important. Together, they developed a sequencer they named “BurnBaby” in reference to the political turmoil of 1967. The sequencer ordered tasks by priority and was able to multitask in real-time based on commands that had been programmed in such a way that memory was shared between tasks.

After working on the remainder of the Apollo projects as well as early space shuttle software, Adler went back to school to study law in 1976, looking for a change in direction. He worked in patents and intellectual property for technology until 2007 and now helps with software support for Microsoft.