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Digitized Apollo Flight Films Available Online

Posted by CowboyNeal on Sat Aug 04, 2007 09:07 AM
from the earth-to-the-moon dept.
Pooua writes "SpaceRef reports that NASA and Arizona State University have teamed up to offer all of NASA's Apollo lunar films online at no charge. The images are scanned from the original films at high resolution, then offered as 16-bit TIFF or 8-bit PNG or ISIS files. The project is expected to take 3 years, but some images are already available. The ASU-NASA website is located at the Arizona State University Apollo Image Archive."
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  • So (Score:3, Funny)

    by eclectro (227083) on Saturday August 04, @09:11AM (#20112953)
    Does this mean that there will finally be an oscar for the set design?
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      I don't think so, but if you wait until the special edition comes out you may be able to get to hear the director's commentary
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      They are not films. They are simply photos from film. Big difference.
    • Re: (Score:2)

      No but it might be indistinguishable from the David Hasselhorf video.
  • Can't be fake (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Verteiron (224042) on Saturday August 04, @09:16AM (#20112983) Homepage
    I found a hair on one of the images. The last one, just SE of the hill in the center of the crater. For some reason, this amuses me.
    • Re: (Score:2)

      Hairs and fibers seem to be all over the place. On the first image, at , there's spots where you get several hairs and specks of dust in the same zoomed in frame. In addition, there's horisontal stripes, like if the originals have been damaged by a feede
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      My GOD, the moon is inhabited by giant hairstylists!
  • out of the government. I've been searching for videos of nuclear detonations online forever and haven't come up with anything. Maybe it's time to try again...
    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      You should see this [imdb.com] movie.
      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        Nah, if it is documentaries with lots of nuclear explosions you want, this [imdb.com]is the movie for you.
    • Re: (Score:2)

      This project is being undertaken due to the vast amount of research being done for Constellation and CEV (Crew Exploration Vehicle) which are set to go back to the moon and maybe Mars. I've sat in several presentations about these efforts here at Johnson S
  • Another resource (Score:4, Informative)

    by TrippTDF (513419) <hiland AT gmail DOT com> on Saturday August 04, @09:30AM (#20113055)
    For any interested parties, the Apollo Archive [apolloarchive.com] is another great project to put Apollo media online.
    • Re: (Score:2)

      To me, the wording of the slashdot summary ("films") implied that the story was about scanning in video. Actually it's about scanning in still photographs. The link from the parent post has downloads of some videos ("Apollo Multimedia," and see, e.g., "Arm
  • Apollo 11 Tapes? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by necro81 (917438) on Saturday August 04, @09:38AM (#20113101) Journal
    So, has anyone yet found the [slashdot.org] lost [smh.com.au] original [wikipedia.org] tapes [npr.org] of the Apollo 11 landing?
    • Re: (Score:2)

      which ones? moon girls gone wild? or Astronauts gone wild in space?

      you know they shot those right after the astronauts broke for a smoke break and they needed to use the set to make some money for Universal Studios.

      remember, Universal Studios for all you
      • Re: (Score:2)

        Yes, but what happened after that? Are they doing anything with them like releasing better quality to the public? I remember Wired [wired.com] (good read) mentioned this.
  • An Idea (Score:2)

    It's amazing, looking at the samples they have on the site, the depth of resolution they have and, correspondentially, the vast range of crater sizes. Someone could write some software to extrapolate from just a couple of these photos, not only the distri
    • Re:An Idea (Score:4, Informative)

      by Iron Sun (227218) on Saturday August 04, @10:14AM (#20113349)
      Done years ago. It's why planetologists talk about periods like the Late Heavy Bombardment [wikipedia.org].
      [ Parent ]
      • Re: (Score:2)

        I know it's been a subject of study. But has it been done in an automated matter? I would think the image processing power required to do so hasn't been around for that long. If it hasn't been done, the vastly larger quantity of data that could be proce
    • Re: (Score:2)

      Someone could write some software to extrapolate from just a couple of these photos, not only the distribution of meteor sizes in earth's vicinity, but the progression of the distribution of sizes through time.

      And what you'll end up with is a very gener
  • Don't forget that many of the original broadcasts from the Lunar surface are missing. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/arti c le1218885.ece [independent.co.uk]
  • that NASA and Arizona State University have teamed up to offer all of NASA's Apollo lunar films online


    Interpreted as: There's a lot of cheap labor at ASU. So graduate, do you want to scan NASA films or work at McDonalds?

  • Hold on there. Didn't NASA offer all their lunar shots as high-res TIFFs way back in the 1990's? I remember demonstrating the 'Internet' to classes back then and one of the key points was being able to look at very high-res TIFF pictures of Neil Armstrong'
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        NIX is still online: NIX Home [nasa.gov] I can only speculate about the difference between NIX and AIA, but I suspect that NIX only has images that have been cataloged up to now, not necessarily every Apollo image on film. AIA is supposed to scan all the stills, even
  • Nasa Journal (Score:3, Informative)

    by florescent_beige (608235) on Saturday August 04, @09:51PM (#20117865) Journal

    I realize someone mentioned apolloarchive, but Nasa also has an incredible amount of Apollo material online.

    Almost everything you want to know about the mission op's is here [nasa.gov].

    The Apollo 11 landing [nasa.gov] from 11 minutes out is amazing, including the 1202's. But I have to admit, the one that sends shivers down my spine every time I watch it is Apollo 17 [nasa.gov]. Cernan & Schmitt's reaction after the pitchover when they see the landing zone is better than anything you've ever seen in a movie, ever.

    • Re:Huh? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by arth1 (260657) on Saturday August 04, @09:37AM (#20113093) Homepage Journal

      16-bit TIFF or 8-bit PNG? Why don't they use 16-bit PNG?

      Probably because if you get the PNG instead of the TIFF, the reason is you need to save space and/or bandwidth. The PNG files have also have a reduced resolution (RTFA).
      If you needed the full quality, you would go for the 1.2 GB(!) TIFF anyhow.

      The scan itself is 12-bit, which they say is as good as 14-bit due to some Leica trickery. Since the originals don't have a high contrast, my guess is that they've simply increased the contrast while scanning, making more pixels fall into different slots. ICBW, but if so, it's still 12-bits, just contrast-enhanced.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re: (Score:2)

        Probably because if you get the PNG instead of the TIFF, the reason is you need to save space and/or bandwidth.

        I don't follow your reasoning. They're both just image formats. And in this case, the PNG can hold the exact same information as the TIFF. The o

        • Re: (Score:2)

          People who need the files in full, uncut resolution and depth also need them in TIFF format, because that's the de-facto standard for large pictures. On the other hand, TIFF does not support the great compression that PNG does.

          PNG would not be the best ch
      • 14 bit (Score:2)

        The scan itself is 12-bit, which they say is as good as 14-bit due to some Leica trickery. Since the originals don't have a high contrast, my guess is that they've simply increased the contrast while scanning, making more pixels fall into different slots.
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      I can't believe that in this day and age, people still refuse to believe that we never landed on the moon.


      i can't believe in this day and age, we haven't landed on Mars yet!

      Question- had funding levels and interest in space contunues at the level it was at in the 60s and 70s, would we have landed on Mars by now?
      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        i can't believe in this day and age, we haven't landed on Mars yet!

        But we have, multiple times! That we haven't put humans on Mars doesn't mean we haven't landed there. And what, exactly, would a human be able to find out that couldn't be better found ou
        • People on Mars (Score:4, Funny)

          by infonography (566403) on Saturday August 04, @10:01AM (#20113263) Homepage
          Mars was the original home of Humanity before the great collapse of the atmosphere that protected the early Martian People. This was 70 thousand years (earth) ago.

          They narrowly avoided the disaster in time thanks to their Chief Scientist AlGor who warned of the impending doom.
          [ Parent ]
        • Re:tin-foil hat (Score:4, Interesting)

          And what, exactly, would a human be able to find out that couldn't be better found out by spending the same amount on automated systems? To me, it seems it would be meaningless bravado, risking human lives for no real benefits.


          I hear this argument over and over again.... and I don't buy it.

          You simply need to have somebody "on the ground" and able to "pick up" a rock, turn stuff over, and react to the local environment... where you don't have to discuss in "committee" what action you are going to do next.

          I would have to agree that the "initial reconnaissance" ought to be done by robots.... as it was done on the Moon as well (or have you forgot the Ranger series of spacecraft?) When you have so many unknowns, as there were about the Moon back in the 1950's regarding the whole idea of even physically landing on the Moon, it was vital to get something "out there" and test what is going on. This is wise in term of nearly all sorts potentially dangerous situations, which is why even the military is setting up robots to go into potentially dangerous areas for recon purposes.

          But there does reach a point where you have to physically send somebody to the place in order to conduct field research... as remote vehicles simply are far too limited and can't be designed to take on every contingency. Having somebody with opposable thumbs and fingers capable of being "programed" at a distance with just a few words and be able to fix something like wiping the dust off of a solar panel, or even being able to "think outside of the box" and come up with a totally new situation.

          In spite of the fact that he was on the Moon for less than two days, Harrison Schmitt conducted far more scientific discovery on the Moon and gathered more real usable data than all of the robotic missions to all of the rest of the planets combined, except for perhaps the Earth itself. I am not making that claim lightly either. He also took decades of real experience being a professional geologist.... a PhD even in that field... and used that knowledge while on the Lunar surface to gather some samples that none of the other twelve astronauts would have even considered. Dr. Schmitt's research will literally be referred to for centuries to come as a foundation of extra-terrestrial mineralogy and "geologic" studies. He would not have been able to do any of that unless "he was there" and capable of making those crucial decisions about what to skip and what to grab.

          I can't even imagine what would happen if a full scale permanent laboratory was on the Moon with full time scientists capable of doing something that wasn't so much of a rush job that it seemed like a temporary layover between international flights at an airport. And going to some of the more "interesting" areas of the Moon rather than selecting parts of the Moon that were chosen explicitly because they were boring... like trying to determine the geology of the Earth by landing in the middle of a corn field in Kansas instead of in the Grand Canyon of Arizona.

          There still is some "low hanging fruit" of scientific knowledge that can be gathered by robotic vehicles to explore Mars, such as Spirit and Opportunity. But there will be a point of diminishing returns where having somebody on the ground there to conduct the research will not only return much more information, but significantly more data. And this is only the "scientific" justification for sending people into space and going to Mars. Or Antarctica to use another example of a comparatively hostile environment where scientists do go physically for research. People live year round at the South Pole itself, for crying out loud. Are you suggesting here that they should all be replaced by robots too?

          There are also other reasons for going to Mars besides pure scientific rationales, but I don't want to digress any more with those further points.
          [ Parent ]
          • Re: (Score:2)

            You're avoiding the question: "what, exactly, would a human be able to find out that couldn't be better found out by spending the same amount on automated systems?"

            Your answer says that a human can find out more than a machine, which isn't at doubt at all
        • And what, exactly, would a human be able to find out that couldn't be better found out by spending the same amount on automated systems?

          What it feels like to stand on Mars, you unromantic nerd.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            What it feels like to stand on Mars, you unromantic nerd.

            That's easy. Spin a space station section to create an artificial gravity where you weigh a third of what you do down here. Or, much cheaper, send a plane on a hyperbolic trajectory where it sustai
            • But you know you're not standing on Mars, so it doesn't feel the same. Just like watching a video of a rock concert isn't the same as really being there, even if you play it really loud and get a bunch of strangers to stand around you cheering. Of course,
    • Re: (Score:1)

      What does Apollo 13 and Jim Lovell have to do with the moon landing being a hoax? Apollo 13's mission to go to the moon had to be aborted because of the problems they encountered on the way there, and a moon landing was never attempted on that specific mis
    • Re: (Score:1)

      So what if some people believe it was faked? They have their reasons, and I have mine for believing it was real. Do you consider them obligated to believe that it was real? I just don't understand the ill attitude.
    • by arthurpaliden (939626) on Saturday August 04, @09:46AM (#20113169)

      In 1969 the Americans first landed men on the moon. Now some people have made names for themselves by saying that this and subsequent landings never happened. Their position is that NASA faked them in order to save face and fool the public. To prove their point they rely on explanations of the reported events using dubious science and lay explanations that any first year science major would and does, laugh at.

      However, they always miss or purposely avoid the the one piece of irrefutable proof that it did in fact happen. That is that the Soviet government never refuted the American claims and they were in a unique position to do so. For even after the Americans landed on the moon the Soviets still continued to send orbiters, landers and rovers to the moon.

      http://www.russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_planetar y_lunar.html [russianspaceweb.com]

      Now if they wanted to get the goods on the Americans all they had to do was to land, photograph or explore with a rover the American landing sights. Just imagine the embarrassment not to mention the the damage to American credibility, at the height of the cold war no less, that such information would generate. Records even show that they never landed or even explored that areas that that American landings happened. So they did not even go and look to make sure because they knew it really happened.

      But they did not. They did not use it to pressure the Americans to stop bombing North Vietnam and Cambodia where Soviet military advisers were being killed as a result. They did not use it to pressure the United States to stop sending military advisers to and providing Stinger missiles to the Afghan fighters during the Soviet occupation. They did not use it to stop the Star Wars program of the Regan administration.

      In fact they did not even use it to turn the West's attention away from the Soviet Union during the Soviet Coup of 1991 when members of the Soviet government briefly deposed Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and attempted to take control of the country.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_coup_attempt_o f_1991 [wikipedia.org]

      Which every body knew was the last death throws of the Soviet empire. If they did not use the information then to turn the attention of the American, and world public, inward to their own governments lies and thus corruption and force it to ignore the events in the Soviet Union in order to deal with a damaging domestic and international issue. Then the proof of faked moon landings did not and never existed.

      One final thought. After the fall of the Soviet Union the Russian economy tanked. People were selling all kinds of stuff owed by the crumbling state, ships, weapons, artworks and knowledge but nobody ever approached any Western news agency or tabloid to sell them this information. And to say that one would buy it but not publish is foolish. The seller could just keep peddling it until some on did and then it would be old news and worthless until then it would still be worth something.

      [ Parent ]
      • by Kjella (173770) on Saturday August 04, @12:57PM (#20114513) Homepage
        Dude, it's because the Soviets were in on it, or the US had some dirt on the Soviets, or space aliens mind controlled them both or whatever. Trying to dissuade conspiracy theorists from their conspiracy is like trying to prove to a paranoid person he's not being followed. The more you tell him noone's following, the more convienced he is that you're lying to fool him or you're a pawn they use to trick him, and everyone is simply pretending not to follow him. Yhe more you tell them there is no conspiracy, the more "proof" there is a conspiracy because nobody is willing to tell the truth. The more testimony, the more evidence you present there is no conspiracy, it just "proves" how big the conspiracy is. Ultimately they think that everyone else is either part of the conspiracy or has been tricked by the conspiracy, and that only they and their fellow conspiracy theorists know the truth.

        It's much the same methods and logic as used in for example Holocaust denial, despite tons of evidence they claim it's all fabricated, the jews are lying, the captured Nazis were tortured and are lying, the Allied forces are lying, all other eyewitnesses are lying, the concentration camps, gas chambers and whatnot were fake, in short tens of millions of people and massive labor efforts would conspire to create it. Yet the conspiracy lives on, and it's a far less likely one than a faked moon landing. And it's certainly no surprise that it's being fueled up again as most of the eyewitnesses and the first-hand accounts are dying, ao they can claim it's all based on propaganda. It's FUD of the highest order.
        [ Parent ]
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        The amazing story that did "leak out" after the collapse of the Soviet Union was that not only was there a tacit confirmation of the Apollo program... but that the Russians really were in a "space race" to get to the Moon as well. Discoveries of a Russian
        • Re: (Score:2)

          The existence of L1 rocket in Russia was not a secret before USSR collapse. The main problem of USSR lunar program was very low budgets. The Apollo program had about 10 times more money.

          And USSR completely lost interest in manned Moon programs after US as
      • Honestly, although you are right, it's really not worth engaging these idiots who claim that humans haven't been to the moon. By posting your +5 comment, at the time of writing 50% of the comments to the article now refer these stupid claims that the landi

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          Although there may be millions of idiots that believe the moon landing was a hoax, or perhaps worse, could be a hoax since they don't know any better, there are a few intelligent, well-reasoned self-proclaimed scientists who write books, do talks, etc that
        • Then why did they not also 'land on the moon' so as not to seem backward losers..
          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            Because, obviously, they were in on it. Have you never heard of the boxer who throws the fight?