|
Author
|
Topic: APOLLO TV Cameras
|
Dwight
Member Posts: 577
From: Germany
Registered: Dec 2003
|
posted 03-27-2006 03:51 PM
   
Hello one and all,I have a query with regards to any of you who may have any interesting anecdotes, artifacts, items etc connected to the development of the cameras/TV system realised on the Apollo missions. I have all the info with regards to documentation, proposals and the like (although I am a bit lacking in actual contract information) concerning the TV cameras. I am looking for material that is a bit more obscure, such as test phase photos. Internal memos of RCA and Westinghouse, development film, and so forth. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and please PM me with any info you may have, and would be willing to share. Many thanks
Dwight Boniecki
Germany |
ilbasso
Member Posts: 1522
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006
|
posted 03-27-2006 04:31 PM
This may or may not be public knowledge at theis time, but I'll trust that enough time has passed that it's out in the open somewhere.Anyway, you may be interested to know that the TV that went to the moon on Apollo 8 was developed under contract for and obtained with permission from the CIA. NASA was looking for a compact color TV but couldn't find one to meet the needs. I believe that Westinghouse told them they had one, but it was developed for clandestine activities and they weren't allowed to release it without permission from the Agency. My dad was working for the Agency at the time and remembers his office being approached by NASA. Their response: "Sure!!" They were proud to have played a part in the Apollo effort even though they weren't allowed to talk about it at the time. He told me about this in the early 1980's, after he had retired. |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 03-27-2006 05:16 PM
On a slightly related subject, it's pretty clear the camera for Apollo 8 didn't have a viewfinder. If you watch some of those transmissions from early in the mission, you can tell they're having a really tough time getting the Earth in the camera because they can't see the results of their efforts. It's comically frustrating to watch. By the end of the mission, they appear to have figured out how to point it and get good results. |
Dwight
Member Posts: 577
From: Germany
Registered: Dec 2003
|
posted 03-27-2006 06:33 PM
ilbasso, that is exactly the type of thing I am looking for! Thank you! I beleive the SEC tube for the camera was what was top secret at the time. However I am interested in the story about how clearance was obtained etc. Basically anecdotes like the one you gave. Please email me when you get a chance.[This message has been edited by Dwight (edited March 27, 2006).] |
Duke Of URL
Member Posts: 1316
From: Syracuse, NY
Registered: Jan 2005
|
posted 03-27-2006 07:28 PM
Tom Stafford has said he designed and built a color TV camera for Apollo 10, based on the spinning-disc principle. I think spinning-disc was a European technology. More possible trivia (if I've remembered correctly): CBS used spinning-disc color technology for broadcast in the early 1950s. One of the first programs shown in color was the Superman episode where some Bad Guys lured him down a hole where Jimmy and Lois were being held prisoner (natch). Superman dove into the hole, at which time the Crooks ran out from hiding and turned on the cannon that beamed Kyrptonite Rays at Supe. I'm sure you remember. Anyhow, NBC was owned by RCA back then, which produced their own type of color camera system. The ABC network, at that time the broadcast version of early Fox, also adopted the RCA standard (not surprising since ABC was an offshoot of NBC) and promoted itself as "The All-Color Network". And, since GE and it's RCA division made TVs - plus made parts for the other US manufacturers - the spinning-disc system was kaput. CBS sulked in black & white until the early 1960s, claiming they wouldn't broadcast color until 10% of all TVs in America were color sets. Does any of this help? [This message has been edited by Duke Of URL (edited March 27, 2006).] |
Dwight
Member Posts: 577
From: Germany
Registered: Dec 2003
|
posted 03-27-2006 07:45 PM
I thought ABC was owned by Bart Sibrel, our resident seller of heresay and conjecture. Spinning disks were all the rage in Hastings back in the mid 20'sAll info helps. |
spacecraft films
Member Posts: 802
From: Columbus, OH USA
Registered: Jun 2002
|
posted 03-27-2006 08:03 PM
And so we in the U.S. developed the wonderful NTSC system...we in the biz always called it Never-Twice-the-Same-Color. When we go back to the moon we better use half the payload on HD helmet cams, robotic swooping cameras to cover the landing, and everything else imaginable. Make it like the spectacle of the Olympics opening and closing ceremonies... "LIVE FROM THE MOON" After all... no bucks... no buck rogers... Mark |
Dwight
Member Posts: 577
From: Germany
Registered: Dec 2003
|
posted 03-27-2006 08:08 PM
Mind you Mark, since digital TV NSTC has become a fairly stable system, at least on the TV I have, I never need to adjust HUE on NTSC stuff (except for the Madacy DVD sets, but that is due to their bad mastering).I hope that the next cameras on a lunar mission are PAL HDTV cameras, and an IMAX film DAC would be cool too. While they are on the surface thesy should also leave a webcam which users can control like earth based webcams. Oh yes, we in the EBU based TV world had another name for NTSC, but I cant write that here without breaking profantiy rules. [This message has been edited by Dwight (edited March 27, 2006).] |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 03-28-2006 04:23 AM
I found this pic while looking through some of the Apollo 11 photos. I realized I had never seen a photo of the television camera they used onboard the Command Module.  |
Duke Of URL
Member Posts: 1316
From: Syracuse, NY
Registered: Jan 2005
|
posted 03-28-2006 10:51 AM
Yo, ibasso....what does your Old Man say about Tom Stafford's input? |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1267
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
|
posted 03-28-2006 05:30 PM
Dwight,This link to a PDF written about TV on Apollo might answer many of your questions. Click on the link, go to introductory material and scroll down until you see Apollo TV by Bill Wood.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/frame.html ------------------
Larry McGlynn
A Tribute to Apollo [This message has been edited by Larry McGlynn (edited March 28, 2006).] |
Dwight
Member Posts: 577
From: Germany
Registered: Dec 2003
|
posted 03-28-2006 06:12 PM
Thanks Larry,I am actually already in email contact will Bill, but thanks anyway. I really am impressed by the way CSers bend over backwards to help each other out. That is way cool. What I am specifically looking for are contracts for Westinghouse/RCA. I have all the other documentation relating to proposals and mission overviews. Many thanks everyone
Dwight |
ilbasso
Member Posts: 1522
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006
|
posted 04-14-2006 06:38 AM
Dwight, I'm sorry to say that my dad passed away last night. He had been in the hospital and mostly unconscious for the past two weeks, and I never got the chance to talk to him again about Apollo 8 and the CIA camera.Lesson for all of us: Our friends and family in The Greatest Generation are leaving us all too quickly. NOW is the time to talk with them about their experiences...tomorrow may be too late. |
Scott
Member Posts: 3307
From: Houston, TX
Registered: May 2001
|
posted 04-14-2006 07:52 AM
quote:
Originally posted by ilbasso:
Dwight, I'm sorry to say that my dad passed away last night.
Sorry to hear about that. My sympathies.
|
spaceuk
Member Posts: 2113
From: Staffs, UK
Registered: Aug 2002
|
posted 04-14-2006 12:19 PM
As someone who covered the Apollo missions in 'real-time' I don't recall the TV camera on Apollo-8 being 'secretive' ?The same type as used on Apollo-7 was used and that mission tv camera had been well documented - as was Apollo-8's. It may have been 'secretive' much earlier (early 60s) but - even then with the then emerging microcircuit technology - cameras began to get smaller and more capable . As did nearly all microelectronic devices - and its still on going even today. The use of tv type cameras on lunar landers ,planetary probes, comms sats and weather sats was pushing the technology advancements hard through the 60's. I think the 'biggest topic of discussion' with any discussion on the Apollo tv cameras - at that time of the missions - was the need to convert the slow scan rate upto domestic tv scan rate before NASA issued signals to networks !
Phill
spaceuk
|
advertisement