[ih] ARPANET and Apollo 11

[Brian E Carpenter]

On 13/03/2015 04:19, Guy Almes wrote:
> Noel,
>    The coincidence of 1969 as Apollo 11 and the ARPAnet is indeed 
> interesting.

IMHO that fact that they were in exactly the same year is coincidence,
but the fact that they were approximately the same year isn't at all.
They both needed the stored-program computer and micro-electronics to
have been invented, and they both needed the impetus of competition
with the USSR - don't forget that DARPA and NASA were both created
in the aftermath of Sputnik 1. Then they needed one cycle of intense
systems development, and neither of them suffered from second-system
syndrome, so the fact that they were both ready about the same time
seems unsurprising.

   Brian