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Post by Obviousman on Sept 24, 2010 5:17:47 GMT -4
Just watching my brand new Spacecraft Films Apollo 17 collection, and looking at the EVA 1 sequence. I notice that right at the beginning, when the camera pans left towards the LM, it encounters the Sun. The operator (Ed Fendell?)does start to lower the camera angle so to point away from the Sun, but initially the screen reminded me of the screen Apollo 12 saw just before they burnt out the videcon tube.
Did Apollo 17 nearly do the same?
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Post by PhantomWolf on Sept 24, 2010 6:18:06 GMT -4
By the time they got to Apollo 17 the camera was way more robust. First the vidicon tubes were tougher and so could be pointed at the sun for a short time without damage. They also had an automatic sensor that closed an iris to further protect the tubes.
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Post by dwight on Sept 24, 2010 8:58:23 GMT -4
Both RCA and westinghouse invested a considerable amount of r&d into burn proof tubes. RCA had tests where they pointed the camera at the sun for hours on end. What Fendell did was just a precaution, the camera was designed to handle such an event, but he knew full well there was only one camera.
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