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Author
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Topic: 'Lost' Viking films auctioned, returned to NASA
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-09-2015 11:38 AM
In 2012, RR Auction sold four original film reels from 1972 tests of the Viking Mars lander parachute. The films were subsequently donated to the South Florida Museum in Bradenton, which has now returned them to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where they were thought to be lost to history. The Bradenton Herald reports: A few years ago, Jim Toomey bid on old NASA test films from an online auction and later donated them — along with other space-related items — to the South Florida Museum.The Bradenton resident had no idea the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had been trying to locate those films for years. ...two weeks ago, Toomey said he got a message from the auction house that NASA was interested. |
alcyone Member Posts: 130 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 10-11-2015 06:55 PM
Interesting that parachute tech films from early 1970s are still relevant to Mars EDL studies today. Good story. |
SpaceAholic Member Posts: 4437 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-11-2015 08:23 PM
The 60's Apollo CM Parachute landing test footage informed current efforts to develop the CEV. |
Cozmosis22 Member Posts: 968 From: Texas * Earth Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 10-11-2015 08:26 PM
So these films sold at auction back in 2012 and three years later NASA decides it wants them. A digital copy would have been sufficient for their stated rationale for confiscating them. |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-11-2015 08:32 PM
NASA didn't confiscate the Viking films; the museum donated the reels. According to a press release, museum officials decided to donate the films to JPL in the interest of furthering space exploration....before a large crowd inside the Bishop Planetarium, Matthew Woodside, South Florida Museum director of exhibitions and chief curator, said the museum was happy to have just been in this moment of serendipity. "Museums keep things because it's a good idea to keep things and sometimes you don't know why you have them, but then situations like this occur," he said. | |
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Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a
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