People, Places, and Events

Margaret Hamilton, Apollo Software Engineer (1936 – 2026)

By:

Hannah Richter

November 5, 2026 0

Hamilton’s code sent humans to the Moon with a “defensive programming” mindset.

Photo of Margaret Hamilton taken in 1995

Daphne Weld Nichols

Space travel is full of the unexpected. That’s precisely why Margaret Hamilton, who led the software team for NASA’s Apollo missions, aimed to make the missions’ code ready for anything. The approach, known as “defensive programming,” helped NASA avert a crisis during Apollo 11’s landing — and earned Hamilton the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

Hamilton, aged 90, died on September 30th in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her daughter reported the cause as multiple organ failure.

“To say Margaret Hamilton was a pioneer — to say she was ahead of her time — would be a dramatic understatement,” said Olivier de Weck, the interim head of MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in a statement.…