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Author Topic:   Apollo network news coverage scale models
AstronautBrian
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Posts: 287
From: Louisiana
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 07-26-2019 03:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AstronautBrian   Click Here to Email AstronautBrian     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
While watching some of the old network coverage of the Apollo 11 landing for the 50th anniversary, I found it amusing how they used models to simulate the landing, etc. Today, of course, it would all be computer graphics.

CBS in particular really stepped up to the plate, using a full-scale LM and two "astronauts" to simulate the egress, etc. until live television coverage came through.

I would imagine most of the stuff would have gone by the wayside and destroyed after the landing. But then again, maybe someone had the right idea to save it.

Does anyone know if the models and spacesuits used by CBS and/or the other networks survive? Anyone know who the "astronauts" were for the CBS simulation?

ea757grrl
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From: South Carolina
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posted 07-26-2019 03:48 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ea757grrl   Click Here to Email ea757grrl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
CBS had Grumman test pilot Scott MacLeod and ILC Industries' Tom Sylvester suited up for the remote from Bethpage. CBS arranged to have a lunar landscape around the full-scale LM.

At North American in Downey, the Command Module mock-up was "piloted" by Leo Krupp. If I recall correctly, that mock-up was built by North American on a contract for CBS. I have seen the paperwork for it, complete with breakdown of personnel, etc.

For the smaller models used in the simulations, I'm wanting to think those were produced by Pacific Miniatures for CBS.

The mockup LM used by CBS was later reported to have been rebuilt by Grumman and shipped to Japan for a space exposition in 1976, although I can't find anything about its current whereabouts. The CM reportedly went to a museum in New York.

ea757grrl
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From: South Carolina
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posted 07-26-2019 09:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ea757grrl   Click Here to Email ea757grrl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
More information, since I've located my documents: CBS put $250,000 into the construction of the LM mock-up, and more money into it after that.

The documents, unfortunately, don't seem to cover the construction of the Apollo CSM used during the Block II flights. I do have some CBS correspondence with NAA for the CM mock-up to be used during coverage of the Apollo 1 flight, and a contract was drawn up with NAA to supply a cutaway CM for $60,000. I don't know what became of that mockup or if it was reworked into the CSM ultimately used during the Apollo flights that did fly.

AstronautBrian
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From: Louisiana
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posted 07-30-2019 08:43 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for AstronautBrian   Click Here to Email AstronautBrian     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you for your replies. I knew someone here would know. I'm glad they were not cast to the wayside; the CBS models looked excellent.

Space Cadet Carl
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From: Lake Orion, Michigan
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 07-30-2019 08:51 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Space Cadet Carl   Click Here to Email Space Cadet Carl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Great info. My recollection was that NBC spent serious money on models and early animation during the Gemini years in 1965 and 1966 with Frank McGee at the anchor and Gulf Oil sponsoring.

But then, CBS decided to go "all in" with a big leap in their space coverage and models during the Apollo years from 1968 onward with Walter Cronkite.

ea757grrl
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From: South Carolina
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posted 07-30-2019 01:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ea757grrl   Click Here to Email ea757grrl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
CBS News happened to have an ambitious Special Events Unit led by people who understood the value of effective visual effects (people like director Joel Banow, who was interviewed in "Chasing the Moon," who thought a lot about the use of models and visual effects; also executive producer Bobby Wussler, who was young, had a fresh and inventive perspective, and knew how to get the resources his unit needed to be creative). It also helped that there was sort of an "arms race" between NBC and CBS, and each tried to outdo the other in whatever way they could.

I believe CBS used a St. Louis-based Gemini mockup for its simulations - St. Louis, of course, put them in close proximity to McDonnell Aircraft for assistance. What you see in the Apollo coverage had its roots in the coverage of Mercury and Gemini, and it let the Special Events Unit get things refined to what you see during the Apollo 11 coverage. CBS also had the services of the talented animator Richard Spies, who had started his own filmmaking company, and that made the CBS animations look distinctive.

NBC tried various methods of telling the story - one of my favorite stories involves the concept of rendezvous being illustrated with a pair of model trains. NBC also had puppeteer Bil Baird develop some marionettes of Gemini astronauts for purposes of demonstrating EVA. But what NBC could depict in-studio (usually from 30 Rock's Studio 8H, currently home of "Saturday Night Live") was constrained by the size of the building's freight elevator. When you see pictures of a full-size Apollo spacecraft in the studio, that model had to be built in components that could fit in that elevator and through the studio doors. (The freight elevator at 30 Rock is too small to fit an entire automobile into; when you see a car on "SNL," it's only the front half because that's all that will fit in that elevator. It's also why game shows that had cars as prizes originated from facilities other than 30 Rock's.)

A friend of mine is working on a very comprehensive history of how broadcast media have covered space flight, and over the past two or three decades he has interviewed dozens and dozens of people who were there. Suffice to say, some very interesting stories are going to be told.

mooncollector
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posted 08-05-2019 04:09 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for mooncollector   Click Here to Email mooncollector     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Space Cadet Carl:
My recollection was that NBC spent serious money on models...
My early childhood recollection was that NBC's Gemini coverage was excellent, but they kind of lost their way during Apollo. Frank McGee and Edwin Newman were somewhat dry and pedantic and that did not come across well. The lack of effects hurt them too.

Uncle Walter and CBS owned Apollo. I can still hear the mission-specific startup clips they introduced coverage with. Wally Schirra was very effective as a commentator. As stated, their mockups were vastly superior to the other networks.

ABC's LM model (which had real exhaust flames) is reported to have lit its own set on fire. That should tell you all you need to know about ABC's sophomoric efforts in Apollo. Far behind the other networks.

How our upcoming moon missions will be covered by the plethora of news sources and technology today will be interesting. I expect a CGI arms race of unparalleled ferocity!

But with hi-def video from the Moon, the missions will pretty much cover themselves! I expect we will see things live that we could never have thought possible back in the day.

ea757grrl
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From: South Carolina
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posted 08-05-2019 05:44 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for ea757grrl   Click Here to Email ea757grrl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
NBC News had great journalists and resources, but its real strengths came in covering things like election nights and political conventions and so forth, and you can see this when you watch the clips. Huntley seems a little overwhelmed by all the technical aspects, and all the technology didn't play toward Brinkley's strengths of observing the goofy human elements of whatever proceeding he was covering. Frank McGee really carried the load in NBC's spaceflight coverage. He was superb at holding a desk for hours on end for any story, and he was engaged by the story of space flight, but McGee's was a low-key and occasionally dry style.

ABC's visuals were indeed crude and occasionally dangerous, and by modern standards hilarious. However, ABC had nowhere near the resources of NBC or CBS. (The documentary "Best of Enemies," about the televised debates between William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal during ABC's coverage of the 1968 conventions, goes to some extent into how ABC News had to stretch resources and get innovative.)

CBS News just happened to have the right elements in place at the right moment: an anchor who was truly engaged by the story he had to present; a Special Events Unit with young and creative leadership; a news division with deep talent and wide reach; and a network willing to put the resources into making its coverage stand out.

Everything about CBS's coverage of Apollo 11 — and you can see it in the extended coverage that CBS livestreamed on the anniversary, in the print ads in the newspaper archives, and certainly in the magnificent commemorative book "10:56:20 P.M. 7/20/1969" that CBS published about how the people of the network covered this historic event — to this day it all gives you a feeling of elegance and class, and it stands out for all the right reasons.

Go4Launch
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From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-05-2019 09:03 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Go4Launch   Click Here to Email Go4Launch     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Regarding NBC coverage: a big thumbs-up for my old friend and colleague, the late Peter Hackes, a very diligent and hard-working space correspondent.

A E Andres
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From: Boston, Massachusetts
Registered: Mar 2019

posted 08-05-2019 02:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for A E Andres     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
A few notes on both NBC and CBS News Gemini and Apollo coverage.

The full-size Gemini capsule used by NBC News which was situated in Rockefeller Center's Studio 8-H was reported to have cost the network $100,000. You can see NBC correspondent Peter Hackes in the commander's seat in an NBC ad on pages 70 and 71 of the March 28, 1966 issue of Broadcasting magazine. In addition, the model train demonstration to show how the Gemini caught up with the Agena target vehicle alluded to in a message above is also seen on page 71 in the center left photograph.

Bil Baird's marionettes were used to provide visuals during the Gemini EVAs. The Baird Gemini EVA astronaut marionette is now in the collection of the Charles MacNider Art Museum in Mason City, Iowa.

Most famously Baird's Apollo marionettes were used by NBC during the Apollo 12 moonwalk coverage after the Westinghouse color camera was disabled. The NBC Apollo 12 marionettes were last seen when part of the Baird collection sold at auction in 1987.

As noted above, CBS's Joel Banow engaged Richard Spies and Reel III to produce the wonderful animated sequences for their Apollo coverage. However no one had any idea where this would lead. One of the lead animation artists working for Spies was Ralph McQuarrie a aviation illustrator who as a result of his work on the CBS Apollo films was engaged around 1974 by George Lucas to create illustrations to sell a science fiction epic to 20th Century Fox. McQuarrie's concept art led to the look of Star Wars and many of the iconic characters and spaceships derive from his early illustrations.

A number of these stories were told in more detail in the early drafts of the book Chasing the Moon, however were removed for lack of space.

As was noted above, Joel Banow can be heard in the film of Chasing the Moon telling how he hired Doug Trumbull to create the HAL 10000 sequences during the Apollo 11coverage.

Regarding NBC, Neither Huntley nor Brinkley liked covering the space program. As a Washington journalist Brinkley was wary of government waste and his documentary about the economic changes on Florida's space coast during the Mercury era was not widely liked within the space program. During the coverage of Apollo 17 he asked whether NASA shouldn't just pat itself on the back and then shut down.

As to the arms race between CBS and NBC, ABC News was also very much attempting to be a player despite their very limited news budget. As a result ABC tried to scoop CBS and NBC by using unorthodox methods such as hacking into NASA supposedly secure communications lines as well as setting up exclusive news events behind NASA's back. There are indeed many good stories remaining to be told.

dom
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posted 08-05-2019 02:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for dom   Click Here to Email dom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by ea757grrl:
A friend of mine is working on a very comprehensive history of how broadcast media have covered space flight...
Will this be published in book form?

ea757grrl
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Posts: 729
From: South Carolina
Registered: Jul 2006

posted 08-05-2019 05:34 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ea757grrl   Click Here to Email ea757grrl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My friend's comprehensive history of broadcast coverage of human space flight will eventually be published in book form. His master's thesis, "Televising the Space Age," focuses on CBS and is a prototype for what's ahead. It's available here.

Many thanks to A.E. Andres for the additional information above. As a broadcast historian, I love this stuff.

And to Go4Launch, you may be interested to know that I work for the college where Peter Hackes completed his Navy V-12 training during World War II. He even worked for the campus paper, which won an award while he was editor. A few years ago I installed a framed display in our building that has a few photos of him and a little write-up about him, including his role in spaceflight coverage.

Go4Launch
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Posts: 542
From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-05-2019 09:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Go4Launch   Click Here to Email Go4Launch     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Glad to hear about the tribute to Peter, as well as the news about AR’s book!

Philip
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From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 08-06-2019 02:50 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Philip   Click Here to Email Philip     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Dutch television made some amazing models for the TV coverage of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. Presentators included Henk Terlingen and Rudolf Spoor.

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