posted 12-18-2008 08:46 PM
I've got a "mystery" that I'd like to put forward for all the Gemini experts in the crowd to consider. In the "extras" with the recent "Shadow of the Moon" DVD there are a couple of black-and-white film sequences that were obviously filmed inside the cabin during a Gemini flight - but the astronaut depicted is not recognizable to me or to another expert that I showed the film still to. In the Astronaut Hall of Fame Museum near KSC, they have a camera on display that is labeled the 'Pilot Observer Camera' for Gemini long-duration flights. It is a Milliken 16 mm film camera model DBM-7 (that one NASA document referred to as a 'panel camera,' but I could not find a suitable explanation).
I am assuming that this is the camera that filmed the b&w sequences in the "Shadow of the Moon" extras.
Are any of our resident Gemini experts familiar with the Pilot Observer Camera or the films that it produced? There are some b&w films showing the Gemini 7 astronauts conducting some of their in-cabin experiments, and I assume these films were made by the Milliken DBM-7 camera.
I have a photo of the camera in the museum and a film still of the unidentified Gemini astronaut that I can send to those who are interested. Thanks.
Joel Powell