Slice of History - Farewell to the IBM 360

After faithfully supporting every flight mission managed by JPL since 1970, a historic IBM 360 computer system was finally laid to rest on August 1, 1983.

The veteran workhorses were succeeded by sleek new IBM 43-41 systems, installed just down the road at the Lab’s Information Processing Center on Woodbury Road.

"This new system is much more efficient, compact, and a lot faster," said then-360 Computer Chief Warren Starr, who had worked with the 360s since their arrival. "Another nice thing about it is that users can operate it from their own offices."

Talk about remote work!

“The 360s first arrived at JPL in 1970 from the Manned Space Flight Center in Houston, Texas,” noted an August 1983 article in JPL’s Universe newsletter. “They were initially used for tracking and data processing for the 1971 Mariner Mars project, and went on to support the launch and encounter phases of Mariner 10, Pioneer 10, Voyager, Seasat and Helios. The largest project

ever supported was the Viking mission to Mars.”

The new 43-41 systems picked up right where the 360s left off, going on to support high-profile missions including Voyager, Galileo, and the International Solar Polar mission. Mike Orr, Data Management Team Chief for Voyager, relied on the upgraded machines exclusively.

"The 43-41 has a lot more disc storage, and that's exactly what we needed," Orr said. CL#25-1767

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