[schimmy_changa]

Right, the computers were built for the preliminary programs which ... were stages on the way to Apollo! Yes, theoretically, but sometimes you need a big bold exciting goal or everyone will say "why are you wasting my tax dollars inventing flight computers? these don't seem very valuable...". The side effects may even be the point of the project, but the goal is essential to getting the politics right.

[ghaff]

They really came out of gun targeting and were later developed into ballistic missile targeting (including sub-launched). Not that the AGC wasn't a significant achievement but the basic technology had already been proven out in Polaris and earlier.