posted 11-25-2007 08:43 AM            

During those tests, black streaks were noticed across the screen. They said they would begin loading a black and white camera on to the lunar module's MESA if the problems continued.

posted 04-09-2020 09:09 AM            

Also, what was done to protect the television cameras carried aboard Apollo 13 and 14 so that the same problem would not occur?

posted 04-09-2020 09:12 AM               

Astronaut Alan Bean inadvertently pointed the camera at the Sun while preparing to mount it on the tripod.

The Sun's extreme brightness burned out the video pickup tube, rendering the camera useless. When the camera was returned to Earth, it was shipped to Westinghouse, and they were able to get an image on the section of the tube that wasn't damaged.

Procedures were re-written in order to prevent such damage in the future, including the addition of a lens cap to protect the tube when the camera was re-positioned off the MESA.

posted 04-09-2020 03:22 PM               

Additionally, the inclusion of a lens cap requires additional actions and training to operate and stow or discard such item. If every camera carried on board had a lens cap, there would need to be a procedure to stow the item, secure it to either the parent item or affix a strip of Velcro so it can be stowed elsewhere, or placed in a pocket so it does not float about the spacecraft and get misplaced. Each procedure then adds to the weight of checklists and manuals.

posted 04-09-2020 08:49 PM               

A lens cap also weighs about the same as many as many other items that were left out of the equipment list on the earlier Apollo missions, until the Saturn V, CSM and LM performance had been utilized, and the latter performance improvements and mission economic use of fuel and energy had been established and streamlined, at which point additional weight was allowed to be carried during missions.

posted 04-09-2020 10:14 PM               

My original point was that where possible, weight was removed, particularly from the lunar module and the equipment flown on board.

Additionally, to include the lens cap on a lunar surface camera would introduce the additional training for astronauts to go through the steps of dealing with the cap, and if the cap was to be reused during the mission, the training to reinstall the cap while wearing a pressure suit and gloved hands.

Re-installing a lens cap also introduces the risk of contaminating the camera lens by contacting the lens with a glove.

I also know of photographers who do not use lens caps, period. or only use them on lenses that are stored away, never using them on camera. The cap is not critical to the camera operation.

It is apparent that following the Apollo 12 TV camera incident, the addition of a lens cap was warranted, and the performance of the lunar module had been tested and established, so that weight/performance was better understood.

I have known glider pilots leave caps, covers, and non-essential items behind on flights to conserve weight, Aircraft engineers to strip non-essential weight, including paint, from aircraft due to performance, and it is common for Formula 1 engineers to manage weight down to micrograms to gain performance.

I have personally stripped equipment from aircraft for performance improvements that weigh less than a standard lens cap.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Explorer1:
I was wondering about whether the camera had a lens cap or not. Almost impossible to believe that it would not have had a lens cap.

---

posted 04-12-2020 01:24 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Explorer1:
Has anyone heard of Bean using a hammer of some kind to try to reactivate the camera?

---

116:15:35 Gibson: Okay, Al, we see no change down here. Why don't you press on?

116:15:40 Bean: Okay, let me try another f-stop, the other way. How's that?

116:15:48 Gibson: There's no change down here, Al. (Pause) That's coming in there, now, Al. Okay, what change did you make?

116:16:02 Bean: I hit it on the top with my hammer. I figured we didn't have a thing to lose.

116:16:08 Gibson: Skillful fix, Al.

116:16:09 Bean: I hit it on the top with this hammer I've got. (Responding to Gibson) Yeah, that's skilled craftsmanship.

posted 04-12-2020 07:49 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mike Dixon:
I seem to remember reading that a live TV camera even on Apollo 11 was something of a "last minute" decision to include on the mission. Was that true?

---

Early on in NASA's project time table, no real thought had been given to color transmissions. In fact, during the early─and even mid-60s─color television was pretty much ignored by everyone. Few people had color receivers, and the networks and local broadcasters transmitted so little color then that ownership of a color set was hard to justify. That finally began to change in 1966 when NBC launched a full color schedule.

Stanley Lebar, the Westinghouse project manager in charge of the Apollo camera development program, recalled that some people in the project were mindful of this sea change and began to consider adding color to the imaging gear they had been contracted to build.

However, just as the television camera carried by Armstrong was no ordinary monochrome model, a strictly off-the-shelf approach wouldn't work for color pickup from space either.

posted 04-12-2020 08:28 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mike Dixon:
...something of a "last minute" decision to include on the mission.

---

It is interesting that only two weeks before the Apollo 12 launch date, it was not crystal clear that the LM camera would be a color camera, as the 'old' AP11 b/w camera is also mentioned in the press release.

posted 04-12-2020 09:27 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Explorer1:
I guess the question is how long was it before that "fix" gave out?

---

posted 04-12-2020 10:48 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Explorer1:
...if Bean hadn't set up the television camera yet what other television camera was there that you were able to see what was happening?

---

posted 04-12-2020 10:54 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by oly:
...had been modified for use on the lunar surface on Apollo 12.

---

posted 04-12-2020 11:35 AM               

After the successful operation of the Westinghouse field sequential color cameras in Apollo 10 and 11 Command and Service Modules the decision was made to use it on the lunar module for Apollo 12. Westinghouse took the camera used on Apollo 10 and modified it for use in the vacuum of space on the surface of the Moon.

The modifications included painting exterior white for thermal control, substituting coated metal gears for plastic gears in the color-wheel drive mechanism, provision for internal heat conduction paths to the camera outer shell for radiation and use of a special bearing lubricant. In addition, the Apollo 12 Command Module TV was the same camera flown in the Apollo 11 Command Module.

posted 04-12-2020 01:26 PM            

Had the camera been switched off, I imagine the damage could have been prevented. Any idea why the camera was on?

posted 04-13-2020 11:19 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by oly:
It is easy to imagine that the camera did not have a lens cap due to engineering planning.

---

posted 04-13-2020 09:55 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Fra Mauro:
I remember seeing a lens caps during movies taken in the CM during either Apollo 8 or 7.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by oly:
There are films showing astronauts playing with lens caps inside the command module in zero gravity, so lens caps were a part of the program.

---

Conrad states while on the lunar module porch that the handle to pull that releases the TV camera is stiff to operate, but does get the camera do deploy and goes on to struggle with the conveyor strap.

This is not the same TV camera carried inside the CM and used for the TV transmissions during the flight. Images from these cameras have shown astronauts playing with lens caps and I believe 1 transmission ends with a crew member fitting the cap while filming (evidence indicates that the tv camera used for Apollo 10 and 11 was then modified to be the Apollo 12 surface camera).

posted 04-21-2020 03:50 PM               

I interviewed John Lowrence and Sam Russell from RCA, Stan Lebar from Westinghouse, and Max Engert from NASA regarding camera development used on Apollo.

The Apollo 12 mishap is fully investigated including photographs of tests conducted upon its return to Earth (courtesy of Stan Lebar), and several reactions from the general public regarding the breakdown of the camera.