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Author
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Topic: Photo of the week 365 (October 29, 2011)
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heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 10-29-2011 02:14 AM
   
 Astronaut Gene Cernan photographs Gemini 9 during his troublesome two-hour EVA on June 5, 1966. Cernan made a dozen remarkable photos of the spacecraft, that have hardly been published in the 45 years since the flight. Ed Hengeveld |
Henry Heatherbank
Member Posts: 244
From: Adelaide, South Australia
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 10-29-2011 02:47 AM
Two questions: - The United States sign behind Stafford's window is quite heat damaged. Was that caused by aero-friction during launch, or just baking on orbit (or both?).
- What is the experiment package(?) protruding just aft of the forward OAMS thrusters?
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heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 10-29-2011 03:31 AM
Don't know about the color of the lettering. It had only been exposed for a relatively short time...The 'experiment' is the spacecraft's horizon sensor. |
SkyMan1958
Member Posts: 867
From: CA.
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 10-29-2011 03:40 PM
Ed, fun image! Is there a site where all these images can be perused and (potentially) downloaded? Thank you! |
albatron
Member Posts: 2732
From: Stuart, Florida
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted 10-29-2011 05:22 PM
I like the pumpkin peeking out the window.  |
ejectr
Member Posts: 1751
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 10-29-2011 06:06 PM
quote:
Originally posted by heng44:
Cernan made a dozen remarkable photos of the spacecraft, that have hardly been published in the 45 years since the flight.
We'll just have to rely on you to show them to us, Ed. |
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 10-30-2011 03:12 AM
All the Gemini onboard photos are available from NASA through the National Archives, but they are in raw form only (see below). I have spent the past few weeks processing them one by one. Gemini 12 is complete and so is 8. I am now working my way through Gemini 9. |
astroborg
Member Posts: 200
From: Woodbridge, VA, USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 10-30-2011 01:30 PM
Excellent edit. You really brought out the best in this image. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 10-30-2011 02:21 PM
So why isn't NASA doing this? |
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 10-30-2011 04:04 PM
Probably low priority and not enough time/money. After all, who is crazy enough to sometimes spend 20-30 minutes on one photo to get it right?  |
space1
Member Posts: 853
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 10-30-2011 04:08 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Henry Heatherbank:
The United States sign behind Stafford's window is quite heat damaged. Was that caused by aero-friction during launch, or just baking on orbit (or both?).
The lettering only appears to be heat damaged. When viewed straight-on it would look normal. But at this angle it appears distorted by the ripples of the beaded shingles.Great image Ed! |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 10-30-2011 04:58 PM
NASA should take more pride in their past accomplishments. As it stands now, you have to go to non-NASA websites to see all the Apollo Hasselblad photos and Gemini photos like these in high-resolution. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-30-2011 05:06 PM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
NASA should take more pride in their past accomplishments.
Knowing some of the people who work to maintain NASA's photo and video archives, it is not a matter of pride of but rather a matter of money. Faced with budget cutbacks, NASA hasn't the resources to do everything they would like to do. That's why have partnered with outside organizations and websites to do the work the agency cannot. |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 10-31-2011 02:28 AM
To add to what Robert said, I think guys like JL Pickering, Ed Heng, and Mark Gray do a great job bringing NASA's photo and film archives to space fans. What they may lack in large financial resources, they make up for with care and attention to detail. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 10-31-2011 05:48 AM
Wasn't there a collection of CD-ROMs which gave overviews of the best high res images of manned missions?It's obvious why NASA isn't doing this, low priority and only the future counts. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 10-31-2011 07:52 AM
My comment was aimed at the NASA websites. The non-NASA sites mentioned above are doing a terrific job with the photos and videos. If NASA had that same enthusiasm, they would find a way to give their past accomplishments a higher priority. |
SPACEFACTS
Member Posts: 301
From: Germany
Registered: Aug 2006
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posted 10-31-2011 10:01 AM
I've downloaded and edited a few more Gemini 12 photos. |
Apollo Redux
Member Posts: 346
From: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Registered: Sep 2006
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posted 11-25-2011 08:34 PM
SPACEFACTS - beautiful. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 11-25-2011 10:02 PM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
My comment was aimed at the NASA websites. The non-NASA sites mentioned above are doing a terrific job with the photos and videos. If NASA had that same enthusiasm, they would find a way to give their past accomplishments a higher priority.
There are 135 shuttle missions alone; most of the high-res photos on a NASA site are available post-STS-79. Taking those missions alone, what one sees on the NASA sites are only a small fraction of the still photos taken on a mission. Take the pre-STS-79 photos and make them high res. Add in all the photos taken from all the shuttle missions. Then add in the M/G/A/Skylab/ASTP/ALT missions, and it's not that the enthusiasm is lacking - but it would take years of work. Of course, processing old photos sounds like it would make for a perfect internship.... |
kyra
Member Posts: 583
From: Louisville CO US
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 11-29-2011 10:21 AM
Could the Horizon Scanners' presence in the photos be the reason they were not published in 1966? These likely were similar to ones used on ICBMs of the day. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 11-29-2011 11:18 AM
Because of the large volume of photos that you mentioned, I would suggest that NASA convert their old low-res photos to new high-res photos in the order that the missions flew. Mercury-Gemini-Apollo first, and the later Shuttle flights last. |
space1
Member Posts: 853
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 11-29-2011 11:56 AM
quote:
Originally posted by kyra:
Could the Horizon Scanners' presence in the photos be the reason they were not published in 1966?
Kyra, from memory the horizon scanners were pictured in the Gemini Press Reference Books handed out to everyone. It's more likely editors didn't like it for other reasons, such as the framing of the photo. |
kyra
Member Posts: 583
From: Louisville CO US
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 11-29-2011 12:00 PM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
Because of the large volume of photos that you mentioned, I would suggest that NASA convert their old low-res photos to new high-res photos in the order that the missions flew. Mercury-Gemini-Apollo first, and the later Shuttle flights last.
Many of these photos that are of quality are Earth observation photos from 29 North to 29 South latitude. Some of these are digitized already. Then there are thousands of overexposed, underexposed, blank, blurred, and unidentified frames. I like your idea of going chronologically, but it might be wise to start with a "sweep" of all the classic 3 or 4 dozen photos per mission as clean, color adjusted,very high resolution bitmaps. Then it would be prudent to sort out the rest. The photos Ed posts here are not typical of what is on mission film rolls. They are the great images that have for one reason or another fallen through the cracks.
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Saturn V
Member Posts: 176
From: Golden, Colorado, USA
Registered: Nov 2006
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posted 11-29-2011 12:10 PM
Picture caption: "Whoops! someone left the door open."What exactly is the "pumpkin" in the window? I assume it is not really a pumpkin. |
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