Author
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Topic: Apollo-era photographs: NASA archives vs wire
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Mike_The_First Member Posts: 436 From: USA Registered: Jun 2014
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posted 09-13-2017 05:46 AM
I was browsing completed sales on eBay (182734857765) and I came across this Apollo 13 wire photo.I recognized it immediately as I had just been looking at the same picture (S70-34986) a couple of days ago on NASA's archive. But it looked a bit off to me, so I pulled the archive image back up, which raised multiple questions for me. - Which one is mirrored and which is true to life?
- Why is one of them mirrored and is this common for photos from that era?
- Who wrote the captions and which one is accurate?
- Is it normal for whichever one has the inaccurate caption (either wire photos or photos from the NASA archive) to have inaccurate captions?
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randy Member Posts: 2176 From: West Jordan, Utah USA Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 09-13-2017 06:36 AM
In answer to the first question, I believe the one on eBay is the mirrored image. I have seen the NASA photo other places and it's always the same orientation. I don't know about the other questions. I'll defer to those more knowledgeable than me. |
Philip Member Posts: 5952 From: Brussels, Belgium Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 09-13-2017 06:53 AM
Look at the NASA stickers of Gemini XI, Apollo 1 and 8 in the background to find the right answer. |
Blackarrow Member Posts: 3118 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 09-13-2017 08:56 AM
Never mind eBay, NASA itself is wrongly displaying their own photograph on their own website in mirror-image format. Anyone can make a mistake, but wasn't there a suggestion in an earlier thread that NASA personnel are, for some bizarre reason, doing this deliberately? |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 09-13-2017 09:12 AM
That suggestion seems implausible for the simple reason that due to budget constraints, there is no one at NASA actively working with the photo archive, other than in response to specific internal and external requests. |
Blackarrow Member Posts: 3118 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 09-13-2017 10:12 AM
I'm inclined to agree — after a quick look through other images on the NASA site, I can't find any other obvious examples (certainly not among the most iconic images). So it's screw-up rather than conspiracy? |
ColinBurgess Member Posts: 2031 From: Sydney, Australia Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 09-13-2017 03:52 PM
JL Pickering and I had a similar discussion a couple of years back about a number of NASA Mercury, Gemini and Apollo images that were printed the wrong way round. It only becomes obvious when you see watches on the wrong arm, NASA logos back to front, and other indicators. I think laziness might have been a contributing factor. |
Blackarrow Member Posts: 3118 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 09-13-2017 04:43 PM
Would that be deliberate laziness or careless laziness? |
heng44 Member Posts: 3386 From: Netherlands Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 09-16-2017 06:18 AM
It happens sometimes that NASA photos are printed "mirrored." I always look for clues like signs in the background, the flag on a spacesuit or (in this case) the breast pockets on the shirts. These are almost always on the left side, so the wire photo is correct. Another clue is the way a shirt or coat closes: left over right for male and right over left for female. |
LM-12 Member Posts: 3207 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 09-16-2017 11:22 AM
Photo S70-34412 is another backwards image in the Apollo 13 gallery.
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