MIT Science Reporter program

[dwight]

I got the new DVD set from Mark Gray which features a variety of Apollo related MIT TV reports. Totally fascinating stuff. They go into explicit detail about the construction of the DSKY, LM, spacesuits, Soft-Landing pre-Apollo missions, food, medicine and re-entry tests for the CM.

I tell you the DVD is a must for anyone who suspects NASA hoaxed us. There were _ALOT_ of people behind the scenes, and seeing some of them explain to you in very fine detail what their job is, just further delegated Bart Sibrel and his posse to the crackpot corner in my opine.

[Kiwi]

I tell you the DVD is a must for anyone who suspects NASA hoaxed us...

The same can be said of Mark Gray's DVDs of the Apollo missions. Viewing an hour or more of continuous, unedited TV transmission of activity on the moon's surface soon dismisses any notion that it could be faked. For a start, there are too many "mistakes." I recently watch Dave Scott as he set up to drill into the lunar surface, and just as he started Jim Irwin moved into view as he worked at the rover and completely obscured Dave Scott for a while.

Of course, an HB would claim that Irwin was deliberately hiding something that Scott was doing, but we see plenty more similar examples.

And there are only a few activities that look natural if played at double speed. Most activities look very unnatural, contrary to the few examples provided by HB's in order to "prove" they were filmed at double speed on earth. I've even heard claims that they were filmed at half-speed, which shows that the HBs don't know what they are talking about because the activity would then be sped up when viewed at normal speed.

[dwight]

Certainly having all the missions (bar the yet to be completed ASTP, Apollo 1, and Skylab sets) from Mark is a longtime wish fulfilled. There is a lot of unseen effort Mark puts into the set outside of editing. The amount of time the guy spends searching for material is something that would seperate the men from the boys (or even the Grays from the Sibrels). One highly intersesting tidbit on the new Apollo 16 set is a b&w sequence of Yound and Duke setting up the LM. The "Mission to the Moon" bit on the LM simulator at Grumman is really fascinating. They do a simulated landing and show the view from the LM window, something I always wanted to see.

Laughably, some self-proclaimed hoax expert on the yahoo group has decried Spacecraftfilms as "crooks" for not including the post flight press conference on the Apollo 11 set, and in the same paragraph praising the BS site for being the only (sic) source of said conference. If that person is indeed BS himself, I can certainly say that they guy hasn't boosted his crusade by such marketing tactics.

Interestingly the MTTM segment on spacesuits shows training footage with the 1/6 g harness. I can tell you that the astronauts walking in that rig look remarkably different in their mobility compared to actual lunar video.

BTW Kiwi, have you seen the Apollo 14 section where the astros trip on the tv cable and the camera tips over? Classic moment, and unsurprisingly bereft of any studio lights. Go figure? Like the Furturama episode where the general upon learning that the area 51 studios are booked for other work exclaims, "My God it means we'll have to land on the moon for real!!"

[Count Zero]

dwight said:

I got the new DVD set from Mark Gray which features a variety of Apollo related MIT TV reports. Totally fascinating stuff. They go into explicit detail about the construction of the DSKY, LM, spacesuits, Soft-Landing pre-Apollo missions, food, medicine and re-entry tests for the CM.

What is the name of this set?

[dwight]

Count, sorry in my excitement I forgot to say the title: it is called Mission to the Moon, and is the newest set from Mark. If you go to www.spacecraftfilms.com it is listed on the welcome screen. If he's changed it it will be listed in the product list. It's a 2 DVD set with 41/2 hours worth of stuff!!!

[Kiwi]

dwight said:

BTW Kiwi, have you seen the Apollo 14 section where the astros trip on the tv cable and the camera tips over? Classic moment, and unsurprisingly bereft of any studio lights.

No, I haven't seen Apollo 14. Thanks to another poster here, I have seen Apollos 11 and 17, and I'm over half way through Apollo 15. Saw one big blunder in the computer-generated landing site flyover for Apollo 15. Mount Hadley Delta, to the south of the landing site, was labelled Mount Hadley, which is a different mountain to the north.

[dwight]

May I just add that I finally gor the awesome Mercury set from Mark yesterday. Luckily I have had the last two days off so I am sure you can gather what I have spent the last 48 hours doing!