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Forum:	Publications & Multimedia
Topic:	Live TV From Orbit (Dwight Steven-Boniecki)

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Your Reply: HTML is ON UBB Code is ON Smilies Legend	[QUOTE]Originally posted by heng44: [B]I received both 'Live TV from the Moon' and 'Live TV from Orbit' today. Looks very interesting. One question: I understand the DVD has a link to a pay-site where there is a lot more video. When I click the link it leads me to some sort of Wikipedia page, but I can't see how I can subscribe.[/B][/QUOTE]
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<table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="600"><TR><td bgcolor="#000000"><TABLE BORDER=0 cellpadding=4 border=0 cellspacing=1 WIDTH="100%"><TR bgcolor="#660000"><TD COLSPAN=2><CENTER>T O P I C     R E V I E W</CENTER></TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>cspg</TD><TD><A HREF="http://amzn.to/2hbj4JQ" TARGET=_blank>Live TV From Orbit</A> by Dwight Steven-Boniecki <BLOCKQUOTE>The often overlooked missions of Skylab, ASTP and the Shuttle categorically receive the recognition they have long deserved. Live TV From Orbit presents the planning and development of the TV systems used on those flights and summarizes the TV coverage during the respective missions.Engineers and planners involved with NASA, Westinghouse and RCA help complement the detailed analysis of just how much effort went into bringing some of the most important historical video from Earth Orbit to the everyday person’s living-room.Using the internal memos and status reports as its foundation, this book digs deep to uncover the story which unfolded behind the cameras.Unlike the days of Apollo, NASA had to fight against the growing apathy of the general public, and despite this hurdle, managed to deliver many iconic moments in outer space with a glorious clarity which had never been seen before. Having set the benchmark high for the lunar missions, NASA planners had to push it higher to win the hearts and minds of potential viewers.</BLOCKQUOTE> <UL TYPE=SQUARE>216 pages B&W with bonus DVD-ROM <LI><A HREF="http://www.apogeeprime.com/prime/bookpages/9781926837284.html" TARGET=_blank>Apogee Prime</A>, 2013 <LI>ISBN 978-1926837-28-4</UL></TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#333333"><TD valign=top>Terry Miller</TD><TD>This seems very complementary to that of SCF's "Live from the Moon"...</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>Dietrich</TD><TD>Not really, the announcement for this new book implies that it deals with missions of ASTP, Skylab, and the Shuttle. However, Dwight had already written a previous book "Life TV From the Moon" which deals with the TV systems and their utilization in the Apollo missions. I highly recommend that book, <A HREF="http://www.cgpublishing.com/Books/9781926592169.html" TARGET=_blank>also from Apogee</A>.As far as I understand both the SCF film and the books from Dwight are not related, but deal with a very similar content. While the SCF film is more focused on the people behind the TV system realisation, the book focuses more onto the TV systems, their evolution along the Apollo program, and the experience with their use.</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#333333"><TD valign=top>cspg</TD><TD>The book is available but you'll have to go through Apogee Prime's shopping cart to order it. For some reason no official announcement.</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>cspg</TD><TD>Actually it's not- just got an email from the publisher. It will available be around the new year.</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#333333"><TD valign=top>cspg</TD><TD>Now it is available.</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>mooneagle</TD><TD>A fireball of molten metal marked Skylab's return to earth in 1979, and the event dominated TV coverage of the day. For many people this is their only recollection of any space mission prior to the shuttle and after the lunar landings of Apollo. A new book from Apogee attempts to rectify the situation.Live TV From Orbit, by Dwight Steven-Boniecki (and featuring a heartfelt foreword by Capt. Bruce McCandless II) explores a large part of uncharted territory in NASA's history. It is as exciting as anything from the Apollo era (in some cases even more so). As much as the Apollo mission TV technology was absolutely revolutionary, it could be reasonably argued that some of NASA's most defining moments were telecast in the era after Apollo. This follow-on story tells how Westinghouse and RCA, building upon the experience they had gained during the lunar missions, developed TV cameras which continued the TV industry revolution. Steven-Boniecki explained his motivation behind Live TV From Orbit, by saying, "Based on comments from nearly everyone who has spoken to me since Live TV From the Moon was published, there is a tremendous amount of interest as to what NASA had planned once Apollo 17 had left the lunar surface."The book covers all stages of research and development of the television systems of Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and the Space Shuttle. Relying on unprecedented assistance from many of the engineers who work for the divisions which created the TV equipment used in outer space, Dwight Steven-Boniecki details the huge effort which brought live images from earth orbit into our living rooms. As noted on the Apogee website, "Unlike the days of Apollo, NASA had to fight against the growing apathy of the general public, and despite this hurdle, managed to deliver many iconic moments in outer space with a glorious clarity which had never been seen before. Having set the benchmark high for the lunar missions, NASA planners had to push it higher to win the hearts and minds of potential viewers."Numerous schematic diagrams and photographs from the era compliment the narrative. Abandoned ideas as well as last-minute modifications are detailed. It is a story which has largely never been told before and also combines the three post-lunar eras in one place, thereby catering for those interested in Skylab, the shuttle, ASTP, or all three. Additionally the accompanying DVD-ROM contains highlights from the ASTP and Skylab programs. The clips are complete video segments without any additional narrative, and help to immerse the viewer in experiencing the transmissions as they would have been seen during the actual missions. Addional pdf documents are also included on the disc; but the goodies do not end there, as a link to "The Space Library" hosted by Apogee books allows readers to access even more TV and film material, much as which has not been seen in its entirety by most people.During his research for Live TV From the Moon Steven-Boniecki held numerous discussions with ex-Apollo Lunar Surface Camera Project Manager Stan Lebar. Like many people Steven-Boniecki was influenced by the unfair stigma that anything post-Apollo appeared to have. It was, however, Lebar's continual reference to Skylab and ASTP TV innovation which fired his interest. "I had to find out why Stan Lebar would speak so proudly and enthusiastically of the work he did after the successful mission of Apollo 11. The more I looked the more intrigued I became."The result is 216 pages devoted a detailed analysis of just how much effort went into bringing some of the most important historical video from Earth Orbit to the everyday person's living-room.<center><a href="http://s458.photobucket.com/user/Dstevenb/media/handshake_zpsc67a6ea4.png.html" target="AirLock"><img src="http://i458.photobucket.com/albums/qq306/Dstevenb/handshake_zpsc67a6ea4.png" width="400" border="0"></a></center>Steven-Boniecki further commented that, "I owed it to Stan Lebar to finish documenting his life's most important work full-circle and it is satisfying to know that his last ever interviews are included herein. It seems somewhat fitting that at the conclusion of the Shuttle Program, the chronicle of television up to the end of its service is now also completed."<center><a href="http://s458.photobucket.com/user/Dstevenb/media/2474a_zpsd188044d.jpg.html" target="AirLock"><img src="http://i458.photobucket.com/albums/qq306/Dstevenb/2474a_zpsd188044d.jpg" border="0"></a></center>Live TV From Orbit is available from <A HREF="http://www.apogeeprime.com/prime/bookpages/9781926837284.html" TARGET=_blank>Apogee Prime.</A> Steven-Boniecki's first book, the 2011 AWA Award winning Live TV From the Moon is also available from <A HREF="http://www.apogeebooks.com/Books/9781926592169.html" TARGET=_blank>Apogee Books</A>.</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#333333"><TD valign=top>Blackarrow</TD><TD>These two books, "Live TV From the Moon" and "Live TV From Orbit" are an excellent guide to a very important and fascinating part of the Apollo story. I can thoroughly recommend both - the free DVDs are worth the cover-prices on their own!</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>mooneagle</TD><TD>Author, Dwight Steven-Boniecki was recently on The Space Show and interviewed by Dr David Livingston. The fascinating 90 minute interview can be heard <A HREF="http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/2221-BWB-2014-04-04.mp3" TARGET=_blank>here</A>.It is interesting how many of the listeners discuss their recollections of post-Apollo mission TV.</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#333333"><TD valign=top>Dwight</TD><TD>In addition to blackarrow's kind review, I'd like to point out that the accompanying DVD includes a link to the Space Library, a new feature hosted by Apogee, from which readers can access a vast amount of TV and film footage. This material is rarely, if ever, seen and is currently not available anywhere else in such a cohesive form. Skylab TV downlinks are listed by Day of Year and mission number - and are complete renderings. In some cases silent JSC archive material has had it's audio re-synchronized. As stated above by mooneagle, this makes for very immersive viewing experience.</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>Dwight</TD><TD>I wanted to share with all of you the kind of material available via the DVD-ROM. With kind permission of Rob and the crew at Apogee here is a teaser of what you can expect on the Space Library!!<center><iframe width="400" height="300" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hv9Z63lDBVI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

Oh, and watch out for Gene Kranz's blooper!

Dwight

And this one is available in "Live TV From Orbit" too:

Dwight

Urgent! These pics are taken from a kinescope labelled simply Skylab 2. I suspect they maybe SMEAT. I am hoping that despite it being non-Apollo, an expert here can ID them.

Dwight

Woo hoo! Found out what the footage is. You'd be surprised - that's for sure. To my knowledge it has never seen the light of days before.

Dwight

I am happy to report that Live TV From Orbit was given a detailed review in Medien Gruppe RTL Deutschland's internal book review site. As most of you here don't speak German I won't post the text here. However the focus was on ASTP in which Germany played a large role in television distribution! It was an honor for my book to be selected for such a review.

Dwight

Both "Live TV Fromthe Moon" and "Live TV From Orbit" were recently covered in an interview I made for the prestigious Aero News Network

It is often forgotten that had there been no TV camera on Apollo 11, the only way people would have shared the moment is via the voice comms only. The 16mm film would have only been seen upon the astronaut's return.

These books detail NASA's road to the use of TV for all the manned Apollo (and post-Apollo - up to STS-1) missions.

Dwight

For all german residents, the book, "Live TV From Orbit" is now available from andromeda24.de (along with the counterpart "Live TV From the Moon"). Enjoy!

Für alle deutsche einwohner, die Bücher "Live TV From Orbit" und "Live TV From the Moon" sind jetzt bestellbar bei andromeda24.de. Viel spaß damit!

heng44

quote:
Originally posted by Dwight:
Woo hoo! Found out what the footage is. You'd be surprised - that's for sure. To my knowledge it has never seen the light of days before.

So what was it? Looks like an emergency test in the vacuum chamber.

Dwight

It is a blood sampling test in the SMEAT environment as shot on the CCTV system and converted to kinescope. I am fairly certain this was pre SMEAT and was used to devise the experiment for that program and later on Skylab.

heng44

Interesting!

Dwight

These are the little discoveries I love. A non-descript video which has a treasure trove of information in it. I had to go through a few SMEAT planning documents to figure out exactly what it was. Also, some knowledgable space historians helped out with explaining the footage split screens.

heng44

I received both 'Live TV from the Moon' and 'Live TV from Orbit' today. Looks very interesting.

One question: I understand the DVD has a link to a pay-site where there is a lot more video. When I click the link it leads me to some sort of Wikipedia page, but I can't see how I can subscribe.

Dwight

Ed, I just sent you an email.

heng44

I can really recommend Dwight's books. Both of them! I have always been fascinated by the live TV from space, especially during Apollo. It enabled viewers on earth to travel along with the astronauts and see what they were seeing.

I knew quite a lot about the subject, but both books contain a lot of new info for me. They are very well researched and especially the section on Skylab in 'Live TV from orbit' was an eye-opener for me.

I feel my money has been well spent. Highly recommended! — Ed Hengeveld

heng44

Today I had lunch with Dwight and we talked about his two great books. Especially the second one, 'Live TV from Orbit' was an eye-opener for me. The Apollo missions were pretty well covered on TV, but Skylab wasn't. This book more than makes up for that.

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