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Ian R
I've decided to start a new thread dedicated to the Apollo program, and I shall start the ball rolling by posting an assortment of mosaics and other images that I have been working on during the past few months.

LM ASCENT MOSAICS:

Apollo 14:

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Turtle Rock and Station H are clearly visible, as are the tracks leading up to the ALSEP. Compare to the lunar orbiter view:

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Ian R
Apollo 15:

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Apollo 16:

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Apollo 17:

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The LRV is visible in the Apollo 16 frame, but just out of view in both the 15 and 17 mosaics.
Ian R
Apollo 11:

The DAC was not started until after LM pitchover, but the first frame of film exposed did manage to capture the northern-most part of Tranquility Base, including the boulder field (not resolved) and craters visible out of Aldrin's window on the surface.

Lunar Orbiter view:
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DAC frame:
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Ian R
Apollo 11 Descent Mosaic:

This mosaic consists of two frames taken from the DAC footage of Eagle's descent to the lunar surface, just seconds prior to landing. The blue silhouette shows the final landing position of the LM, and the surface visible in this view is where Armstrong and Aldrin planted the US flag, solar wind collector and TV camera during the EVA.

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Ian R
This two-frame mosaic shows Gene Cernan inside the LM Challenger after the end of the third Apollo 17 EVA. The stowed suits and helmets are visible on the left, on top of the ascent stage engine cover.

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(Based on the original version by Erik van Meijgaarden)
Ian R
This multi-frame Apollo 17 mosaic shows the post-landing view out of Gene Cernan's window. The magnificent South Massif dominates the scene:

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Ian R
This view of Surveyor 3 consists of two images that were aligned and merged to increase detail and reduce noise. The photographs were taken during the first Apollo 12 EVA, and show a surprising amount of detail, including the mast supporting the solar panels and the TV camera:

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Ian R
This Apollo 15 composite shows how the landing site appeared in both the descent and ascent movies.

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The red arrow points out the crater the LM Falcon partially landed in, giving the lander a significant tilt to the south.
Ian R
This is the second post-landing view from Apollo 17; this time looking out of the LMP's window:

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ilbasso
Wow, Ian, those are amazing! Thanks for sharing. Particularly informative for me was the Apollo 11 descent mosaic, showing the silhouette of the LM's position. Despite 35+ years of looking at the LM landing movies, it has always been difficult for me to get my eyes oriented to the perspective quite right, given the angle that the DAC was mounted in the LMP's window relative to the LM's motion. You really helped put it in context. I also appreciated your enhancing the frames from the liftoffs so we could get a good view of the landing sites.
dilo
Great works, Ian! Thanks...
christian_d
Great stuff! I appreciate you work. It still seems so unreal to me that men walked around there... Indeed, Apollo is what made me interested in space exploration when I was a kid. I'm more in the unmanned camp now, since it is more reasonable for getting science bang for the buck. But nonetheless, the thought of actually being on another celestial body is ineffable - makes me shiver, literally smile.gif

MODERATOR: reminder to the new members to check the Forum Guidelines. We won't be getting into that debate here.
dvandorn
QUOTE (Ian R @ May 26 2008, 02:06 AM) *
Apollo 14:

Click to view attachment

Turtle Rock and Station H are clearly visible, as are the tracks leading up to the ALSEP. Compare to the lunar orbiter view:

Click to view attachment

Excellent thread, Ian! One minor nit, here -- I don't know where you got the overlay on the second image above, but it has a factual error in it. It labels the south rim of North Triplet as the south rim of Doublet. Doublet lies west of the ALSEP site, which is itself west of the LM. Doublet is off frame to the left.

But this is a truly fun thread. Thanks for starting it!

-the other Doug
dvandorn
QUOTE (Ian R @ May 26 2008, 02:15 AM) *

This can be contrasted to the following image taken by Dave Scott from the slope of Hadley Delta with the 500mm lens:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/AS15-84-11324HR.jpg

Granted, this image is a little harder to use in picking out individual craters and landmarks, but it sure puts the landing site in true perspective, doesn't it?

BTW -- that huge hill beyond the LM isn't the side of Hadley Rille, it's Pluton Crater with the smaller Icarus Crater beyond, the North Complex of domes topped by large craters that just might have been calderas. Problems with the drill, of course, cut short the third EVA and canceled planned sampling stops up along those impressively rocky rims.

-the other Doug
DDAVIS
I have taken my unusually 'clean' VHS Apollo 11 video copy, recorded during a 20 year anniversary broadcast of the NBC coverage, and merged sets of similar frames together to reduce the video noise, horizontal wavering of detail etc. The resulting frames were then mosaiced into a panorama from near the final camera position with added black sky. A moment when the TV camera exposure dropped dramatically as a white space suit passed nearby allowed a peek at the overexposed sunlit LM details, which were composited in. This provides a modest sample of what could be done with the original data, if it exists.

Click to view attachment
Airbag
Nice "time averaging" composite!

This thread reminded me that the picture some posts above of a dirty, tired but obviously very satisfied Gene Cernan is one of my favorite Apollo program images. I think it sums up the program very well. And a nice surprise that it could be mosaiced with the one of the stowed helmets and lunar garments.

Airbag
4th rock from the sun
Great processing on those Apollo 11 tv images. I'd like to see another version with the astronauts, just for scale and perspective. If they stay still for some time I guess frame averaging would reduce noise to an acceptable level.

One thing I'd like to do (although I don't know any software that would allow it) is to process the color video from latter missions restoring the original full 60fps of the camera (in black and white). This could be made by "splitting" the color data. The color data is just 20fps, because for each frame a different filter was used (so 60/3 = 20 fps). So for each normal frame of color video you can get the original 3 bw frames with full motion information. In practice this would be hard to do, but I think that the results might be very interesting.
ilbasso
Fabulous work, Don, thanks for posting - and great timing, too, as we're in the Anniversary Week. Hard to believe it has been 39 years!
ilbasso
Does anyone ever find themselves wondering if July 20 will someday be declared a world holiday, to celebrate mankind's crowning achievement of the 20th century?
climber
QUOTE (ilbasso @ Jul 20 2008, 09:27 PM) *
Does anyone ever find themselves wondering if July 20 will someday be declared a world holiday, to celebrate mankind's crowning achievement of the 20th century?

yes I did. Nevertheless, if you read any boog in french related to 1st Moon landing, they refer to when Neil first set FOOT on the Moon which was on ...July 21st here.
DDAVIS

>Great processing on those Apollo 11 tv images. I'd like to see another version with the astronauts, just for scale and perspective.


I provided such an image for this latest entry of my Apollo 11 annual tribute:

http://www.donaldedavis.com/PARTS/Apollo30.html

Aldrin is that vertical blob next to the right leg, in the shadow.

Don
nprev
Striking (and depressing) sequence of images showing the deterioration of a lunar footprint, Don. smile.gif sad.gif

(Can't ever help but have mixed feelings on this day.)
TheChemist
Don, your tribute makes a sad but great reading, thanks.

QUOTE
"It wasn't until the last Lunar expedition that Harrison Schmitt raised his visor deliberately in front of the camera to give history the only brief look at a human being in a spacesuit on the Moon."


I had no idea about this. I googled to no result. Is this image available anywhere ?
Stu
I think this might be it...

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lau...to/schmitt1.jpg

Here's another view...

http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/a17schmitt.face.jpg

I know hindsight is always perfect, and they were rather busy up there, and it was a different age, etc etc, but I'm constantly amazed at how many historic photo opportunities were lost during the Apollo EVAs... no definitive image of Armstrong on the Moon (like the one in Alan Bean's painting)... no image of the actual "First Footprint"... just that one "visor up" shot... But yeah, NASA was less media- and Outreach-aware in those days. I imagine they'll do things VERY differently when the next missions go, and when people reach Mars.
climber
QUOTE (Stu @ Jul 21 2008, 10:10 AM) *
just that one "visor up" shot...

This is may be the only "visor up" astronaut shown on the moon but I remember an enhanced product by Olivier de Goursac (Vickingmars) that clearly shows Aldrin face through the visor looking at Armstrong who was taking the picture.
Unfortunately I cannot find it. Olivier, if your read this ...
dvandorn
Well, in fact, it's not really true that Schmitt was the first to be seen on the lunar surface with his gold visor up. There are several images of Aldrin with his visor up in the video record of the very first moonwalk, all of which occurred early in the EVA when the camera was still located on the MESA, in the LM's shadow. Armstrong collected the contingency sample on Apollo 11 with his visor up, as well -- not visible on the TV, as he was out of the camera FOV at the time, but clearly visible in the 16mm film taken of those activities.

Two LMPs, Ed Mitchell and Jim Irwin, came down the ladder with their gold visors up, and the TV record shows this clearly. And at one point, on Apollo 17, Gene Cernan had his visor up while he cleaned the TV camera lens and you get a good view of his face as he finishes the dusting job.

So, between the film and video record, there are images of at least six of the twelve moonwalkers with their gold visors up and their faces visible.

Just FYI...

-the other Doug
Stu
QUOTE (dvandorn @ Jul 21 2008, 12:56 PM) *
So, between the film and video record, there are images of at least six of the twelve moonwalkers with their gold visors up and their faces visible.


Thanks Doug, I wasn't aware of that. Appreciate the expert input. Looks like I have some serious Googling to do! smile.gif
centsworth_II
QUOTE (Stu @ Jul 21 2008, 03:10 AM) *
...NASA was less media- and Outreach-aware in those days....

There were the feather and hammer drop and the golf strokes. I guess those were more the initiative of individual astronauts than NASA, which makes them all the more special.
Stu
Oh go on then... go and have a play around here... but be back in time for tea...

Apollo images

smile.gif

Good calls, centsworth, but I think you're right, they were individual efforts rather than NASA Outreach. Not criticising NASA at all saying that, before anyone jumps down my throat, it was a very different time. Just gettin' a mite wistful and melancholy about images that might have been.... rolleyes.gif
Stu
QUOTE (dvandorn @ Jul 21 2008, 12:56 PM) *
Two LMPs, Ed Mitchell and Jim Irwin, came down the ladder with their gold visors up, and the TV record shows this clearly.


Wow... glad you flagged that up... found this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfBn6Vl-B2A

ohmy.gif smile.gif
dvandorn
In terms of being media-savvy, the NASA of the 1960s and early 70s was less concerned about the media than they are today, but then again, that was a time in which anything involved with the space program was news. Launches of *unmanned* probes rated live coverage. NASA didn't have to put forth any special effort to make its activities interesting or newsworthy, that just wasn't part of the equation.

Back then, NASA's problems with the media had more to do with keeping the media out of its hair as it ran the missions than it did trying to get the media to cover them in the first place.

Most of the things that the Apollo EVA crews did on the lunar surface that could be described as "PR" types of events were, indeed, done on the personal initiative of the individual crewmen. For instance, on Apollo 11, Armstrong's checklist merely instructed him to remove the foil cover from the commemorative plaque on the front landing gear. It was Armstrong's own idea, as appropriate for the moment, to describe the plaque and read the words etched into it. But, of course, later on in that same EVA, the White House media machine arranged to have Dick Nixon share the screen with Armstrong and Aldrin, which was pretty much the most blatant PR moment I can recall from the moonflights.

Gene Cernan created the most transparently PR-styled moment of the final landings with his "dedication" of a lunar sample to all the people of the Earth, but as you say, there were little things, like the golf shot and the hammer/feather drop, that were slightly more spontaneous and obviously the work of the individuals who did them. Some other things were planned and never accomplished, though -- for example, the Apollo 16 crew of Young and Duke had planned to do a "Lunar Olympics" demonstration of just how high and far one could leap and jump in 1/6 G, but their late landing and truncated third EVA resulted in the cancelation of that little demonstration.

As for outreach... NASA was always good at reactive outreach, providing ten pounds of information for every one pound requested by the media or just by the general public. Only in this more jaded world of been-there, done-that has NASA felt the need to put effort into a lot of proactive outreach. Overall, they're good at that, too, but there is always room for improvement.

-the other Doug
centsworth_II
QUOTE (Stu @ Jul 21 2008, 08:34 AM) *
Not criticizing NASA...

I remember spending hours in front of the TV watching live video from the moon. Talk about the immediate release of image products!
dvandorn
QUOTE (Stu @ Jul 21 2008, 08:47 AM) *
Wow... glad you flagged that up... found this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfBn6Vl-B2A

ohmy.gif smile.gif

Also, if you look closely on the Apollo 11 television record, you can see that when Armstrong begins to read the plaque, Aldrin in the background has his visor half-up, and as he moves into the sun and reaches to pull the visor down completely, his face profile is visible within the helmet. I'm also convinced he had his visor up earlier when he was working at the MESA, where a few smudgy images look to me as if we're looking right into Aldrin's helmet and at his face.

-the other Doug
DDAVIS
So, between the film and video record, there are images of at least six of the twelve moonwalkers with their gold visors up and their faces visible.


Indeed, however the last mission seemed to feature the only deliberate effort to do this live for the benefit of viewers (against the advice of mission control). EDIT: Nope, it was not quite deliberate, just did some more research. Even though he seemed to make a point of lingering in front of the camera like that for a time, it was due to a presumably dust scratched visor. It was, however, still cool to see someone speaking some of the many words broadcast from the Lunar surface.
tedstryk
My computer doesn't like Apollo and Lunar Orbiter images. biggrin.gif
dvandorn
QUOTE (DDAVIS @ Jul 21 2008, 09:07 AM) *
...the last mission seemed to feature the only deliberate effort to do this live for the benefit of viewers (against the advice of mission control).

Schmitt kept his visor up (or, more of the time, half-up) because it had acquired some scratches early on, and Schmitt wanted to see the surface -- and the rocks -- as clearly as possible. For the most part, Schmitt seemed oblivious that the camera was even watching him, much less consciously aware of whether people could or could not see his face, I think.

He was cautioned several times by the ground to lower his visor, and at first he simply complained that the visor was scratched and hard to see through. Later on, he got sort of aggravated, and said something along the lines of "I think you can trust us to take care of ourselves, I'll wear the visor as I please, so shut up about it."

smile.gif

-the other Doug
ilbasso
Courtesy of the Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal - here's an enhanced picture of one of the shots of Buzz at the flag. You can clearly see his face even through the gold visor. He has turned his head to the left to look at Armstrong but his helmet remains facing forward.


Once you've seen the enhanced version, it's easy to see Buzz in the 'normal' version.


You know, try as I might, I couldn't find any references on NASA's homepage yesterday to recognize the anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. It's incredible that even NASA couldn't be bothered to commemorate perhaps its crowning achievement.
nprev
QUOTE (ilbasso @ Jul 21 2008, 06:22 PM) *
It's incredible that even NASA couldn't be bothered to commemorate perhaps its crowning achievement.


Wow. I never even thought to check, but thanks for doing so. What a depressing (though completely accurate) observation.

I'm sure hoping that Apollo doesn't degenerate into an urban legend by the time I'm an old(er) man.
dvandorn
Well, NASA TV ran their longer Apollo 11 documentary Sunday at noon, CDT, and of course the Apollo 11 anniversary was mentioned during their "This Week @ NASA" segment in which they point out anniversaries. But that's all I saw.

I was rather disappointed that they couldn't manage to run some time-synched tapes of the landing between 3 and 3:30 pm CDT yesterday. I ended up sync'ing (to within five seconds or so, anyway) an mp3 I have of the landing and listening on my computer. I was able to listen as they landed right around 3:17:44 pm.

Shame I had to set that up for myself. I mean, NASA has its own freakin' TV network, you'd think they could have just racked up some tapes and played them, eh?

-the other Doug
dvandorn
I just watched a decent mpg clip of the TV broadcast from during and just after the reading of the plaque during Apollo 11's EVA. And I must correct myself slightly. Aldrin started out that scene with his visor down, and pulled his visor up about halfway through Armstrong's reading. He then came over to the MESA, leaving his visor up, and at various times you could glimpse his head moving in his helmet. However, at one point he holds his gloved hand up to the TV camera, asking if Houston can see the dirt already on the glove. The lighting at that moment is such that you can see Buzz's eyes and forehead quite clearly (his upraised arm covered his mouth), and as he is asking if Houston has his hand in focus, you can see him blink his eyes. It's really, really cool -- and to tell the truth, I *think* I remember noting that when I saw the TV transmission the first time.

-the other Doug
Stu
I'd like to take a moment here to thank everyone who's contributed to this discussion, it's been truly enlightening, and a great illustration of the expertise and knowledge of UMSF members. I have to admit I started off with a whole bunch of assumptions and preconceptions here, and a lot of them have just been blown away, and a lot of gaps - that I didn't even know were gaps - in my own knowledge of the Apollo missions have now been filled in.

Dvandorn, your knowledge of the Apollo missions is remarkable, thanks for your info! And ilbasso, those Buzz Aldrin pics you posted literally shook me. How many times have I looked at that very picture and never seen Aldrin's face? Hundreds? Thousands? Jeez, I actually show that pic in some of my talks, and I swear I have never noticed the face inside the helmet before. blink.gif That's actually a little disturbing, to be honest, to have missed something so amazing, so many times... but you're right, once you've seen the crop of just the visor, and look at the full size image, yep, there he is, looking right at the camera. I feel a bit of an idiot actually. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else out there had never noticed Aldrin's face in that image before (not just so I don't feel an idiot on my own, I'm just curious!)

Anyway, thanks guys. This mini discussion has breathed new life into Apollo for me. smile.gif
dvandorn
QUOTE (Stu @ Jul 22 2008, 02:27 AM) *
I'd be interested to hear if anyone else out there had never noticed Aldrin's face in that image before (not just so I don't feel an idiot on my own, I'm just curious!)

That is a somewhat enhanced version of that pic, Aldrin's face is a little more subdued in the original release of that image, so it's not surprising most people miss it.

I had never really seen the face in the visor until someone posted that enhanced image in the ALSJ, after which, of course, you can't help but see it. So, I'm with you, Stu -- I had indeed seen that image thousands of times and not picked out the face. Of course, we can be a little forgiven, since Aldrin is facing the LM and the image of his face looks a lot like it could be a reflection of the gold-orange kapton foil covering the LM's descent stage. It's only when you realize that the face sits on the *near* side of the reflection of the Sun, and the LM would be seen in reflection on Buzz' visor on the *far* side of the Sun's reflection, that you become certain it can't be the LM, and thereby *any* reflection on the outside of the visor.

Oh, and thanks! As y'all might notice, this is a topic I never tire of discussing... rolleyes.gif

-the other Doug
ugordan
Here's a goofy attempt at a crossed-eye stereo image of the Apollo 11 LEM made from two Armstrong's photos from distance:



Only the ascent stage is matched well and gives a reasonable 3d feel, the descent stage (especially the legs) are distorted, not to mention the surface features. Don't look at it for too long if you don't want headaches.
Stu
I've always liked this one... not brilliant but kinda 3D smile.gif
TheChemist
That's why I love this forum !
You ask for a picture, and you get a full discussion with lots of images, accurate documentation and expert commentary. smile.gif

A big thank you guys !
climber
Once again, have a look at this dicussion: http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...ic=3542&hl=
I can tell you that Aldrin face was wayyyyyyyyyyyyy sharper than the one here above. I hope this product will be available.
FordPrefect
A different view of that beautiful valley on the moon...

ilbasso
One series of pictures I have been looking for on the web - which I found once and can't find any more - is one that someone did to show the relative sizes and distances of the horizon and features in various Apollo surface photos. Since there's no air to provide haze, one of our visual cues of distance, you have a real hard time judging how big or far away things are in the photos. This person Photoshopped in the "HOLLYWOOD" sign at the appropriate scale in various photos, which was a stark reminder just how big those mountains are.

Does anyone remember where that website resides?
Ian R
This must be the picture you're referring to, Ilbasso - it's from the ALSJ 'Fun Images' section:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/...j.hollywood.jpg
climber
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