The Space Shuttle had five general-purpose computers that controlled, monitored, and navigated the Shuttle.

Reply to The Space Shuttle had five general-purpose computers that controlled, monitored, and navigated the Shuttle. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:30:48 GMT

kenshirriff@oldbytes.space — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:30:48 GMT

Credits: IOP boards provided by Richard, 4 Pi board from @tubetime.
Photo of the IOP and CPU courtesy of RR Auction. IOP documentation from Mike Stewart. Exploded diagram from https://ibiblio.org/apollo/Shuttle/IBM-74-A31-016%20-%20Space%20Shuttle%20Advanced%20System,%204%20Pi%20-%20Prototype%20Input,%20Output%20Processor%20(IOP).pdf#page=145

Reply to The Space Shuttle had five general-purpose computers that controlled, monitored, and navigated the Shuttle. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:29:58 GMT

kenshirriff@oldbytes.space — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:29:58 GMT

Want more photos? Or more info, such as how the I/O processor implements 25 virtual processors with two instruction sets on top of a single physical processor? See my latest article: https://www.righto.com/2026/06/space-shuttle-io-processor-boards.html

Reply to The Space Shuttle had five general-purpose computers that controlled, monitored, and navigated the Shuttle. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:29:31 GMT

kenshirriff@oldbytes.space — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:29:31 GMT

This diagram shows how the circuit boards (called pages) were plugged into the I/O Processor's aluminum-alloy case. For storage, the system used magnetic core memory, larger pages at the back. This system didn't use a microprocessor; it was built from 11 logic pages crammed with simple chips.

Reply to The Space Shuttle had five general-purpose computers that controlled, monitored, and navigated the Shuttle. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:29:01 GMT

kenshirriff@oldbytes.space — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:29:01 GMT

IBM had a series of aerospace computers called System/4 Pi. These computers all used standard-sized boards (top). Except that the I/O Processor's boards (bottom) were one inch wider. I guess they needed the extra space for more circuitry.

Reply to The Space Shuttle had five general-purpose computers that controlled, monitored, and navigated the Shuttle. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:27:42 GMT

kenshirriff@oldbytes.space — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:27:42 GMT

The second board is memory (PROM), holding microcode for the I/O Processor, which is a (very strange) computer, independent of the CPU. Each gold-lidded chip holds 2K bits in tiny metal fuses. The chip is programmed by blowing the fuse for each 1 bit, literally burning the PROM.

Reply to The Space Shuttle had five general-purpose computers that controlled, monitored, and navigated the Shuttle. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:26:34 GMT

kenshirriff@oldbytes.space — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:26:34 GMT

First board is a network interface. Each side is identical and supports two networks. The IBM hybrid module (right) contains tiny transistors, resistors, etc. to handle the analog stuff. The golden Motorola chips format bits to transmit and receive them. The other chips are mostly shift registers.