Keyboard, Display (DSKY), Apollo, Block I

The Display Keyboard (DSKY), manufactured by Raytheon, was the method by which Apollo astronauts communicated with the computers on board the Apollo Command and Lunar Modules. A Command module had two DSKYs: one on the main control panel and one in the lower navigation bay. The LM had one DSKY. The interface consisted of a simple numerical keyboard, a row of status lights, and a set of lighted numerical indicators. Astronauts instructed the computer by keying in numerical codes in a "verb - noun" sequence; e.g. "display velocity."

This DSKY is one of several in the NASM collection, and represents the early, "Block I" design. It was never flown. NASA transferred this DSKY to the Museum in 1972.