Anyone fancy some typing in? 
From The Best of Creating Computer magazine Vol 1. Early 1970’s…
-Gordon
Hurrah! A bit of searching on key strings turned this up:
and also
http://pdp-11.trailing-edge.com/rsts11/rsts-11-013/ROCKET.BAS
There are some quite groovy equations in there:
910 LET J=V+G*S+Z*(-Q-(Q^2)/2-(Q^3)/3-(Q^4)/4-(Q^5)/5)
920 LET I=A-G*S*S/2-V*S+Z*S*(Q/2+Q^2/6+Q^3/12+Q^4/20+Q^5/30)
I see we have some accounting of fuel mass:
620 LET M=M-S*K
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I’m rather fond of the the one in the August 1977 Byte. They actually build a model lander that is controlled by the computer.
Then there is the series that starts in the November 1977 issue on simulating motion, based on a lunar lander, from a NASA engineer.
Both of those start on page 18 of their respective issues.
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Much clearer (and OCRd) scan of the Creative Computing article here:
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Noticing these two header lines:
1 REM *** WRITTEN BY JIM STORER, LEXINGTON HS
2 REM *** CONVERTED FROM FOCAL TO BASIC BY DAVID AHL, DIGITAL
I just came across Jim Storer’s web pages - he’s a CS prof, and a puzzle enthusiast, and has some collected links on his Lunar Lander program here.
Jim Storer - Lunar Landing Game Related Documents
(Unfortunately, I came across his site because of his involvement as an expert in the SoftRAM95 controversy. See here and here and here.)
I had a discussion on Twitter about the topic “Lunar Lander”:
<script async src =" https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js “charset =” utf -8 ">I hate decoding chart stories …
- Joachim Boaz (@SFRuminations) May 8, 2021
J. G. Ballard’s “How Dr Christopher Evans Landed on the Moon” (1969) in New Worlds, # 187 (February 1969)
Is the joke that Evans runs out of fuel and will be stuck on the Moon?
Lots of numbers make me lock up. hah. pic.twitter.com/AZS0ZNkaMi
Well that’s odd - Evans helped Ballard write Crash, it seems, and this simulation shows the lander not crashing. It’s shown here and described as a spoof computer printout.
It’s very difficult to win at ROCKET, so I’m sure Evans was the pilot and Ballard was admiring the performance.
Here’s a close match to the program that’s running - it’s not close enough to land with this strategy, but nearly so. It’s converted from this one, which is close to this version on Storer’s site.
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SoftRAM95 - that takes me back. Sigh, I miss DDJ and C Users Journal (and the might Byte magazine too).
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There was at least one bug in my typed-in Lunar Lander effort. It does land, with the original inputs, but not quite at the same speed. I’ve continued my work over here on stardot.
Thanks @dtmb for the reinvigoration and the link to Ballard and Evans! (Christopher Evans being a crucial historical figure, probably kick-starting the UK microcomputer revolution.)
An interesting update - last year Martin C Martin found a bug in the equations as implemented, and explored the consequences:
Some good explanations there of what the program does, and how it does it - finding the point of landing can actually be quite tricky, and you need proper numerical techniques to do it. It’s worth reading the comments too.
More discussion at HN
via AyreGuitar on stardot
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I have many dozens of all three stuffed in my attic, slowly oxidizing and waiting patiently for me to scan and upload. Maybe this year I’ll get back in the saddle … Byte will probably be the last, since there already appears to be good coverage on the internet archive and elsewhere.
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