Apollo 11 - Strange

In the wake of the passing of Michael Collins, Command Module Pilot for the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing mission, I was looking for a specific quote from Collins at a certain point in the mission. I know I saw it somewhere, but I couldn't find it. In the process, I downloaded the entire transcripts of the Apollo 11 mission. In reading through them I found something very interesting which I had never noticed before.

The transcripts can be found HERE for those interested.

The quote I was looking for was a statement from Collins to Neil Armstrong right at the moment when he shut the hatch to the tunnel leading to the LM before Armstrong and Aldrin separated from the CM on their descent down to the Moon's surface. As noted, I didn't find the quote, but in the process I did a pretty detailed review of the CM conversations for about 3 days. As Apollo 11 approached, and then entered orbit around the Moon, a large majority of the conversations on the CM were around the cameras. I didn't do any math, but it looks like nearly 60% of the transcript deals with the crew talking about the cameras. This was really surprising to me, very surprising actually. They talked about the cameras over, and over, and over again, going through every imaginable detail about camera settings and film speeds and numerous other topics. I had never read these particular transcripts before, and I guess I had thought they would have been talking about a million other things besides the cameras. Where were the cameras stowed, they couldn't reach the cameras, what f-stop to use, what shutter speed, who has the camera, where is the other camera, who's taking the camera, take a picture of this or that. Just non-stop chatter about the cameras consumes a huge piece of their dialog.

Now, I realize documentation of such a historic mission was a very important element of the overall mission plan, but I was shocked to see this much dialog about them and almost nothing else. I mean think about it...these three men were aboard the most sophisticated craft that had ever been developed by mankind, and they were orbiting the Moon. They were about to separate the LM from the CM and descend down to the surface of another planet...and all they needed to talk about was the cameras???? This seemed really odd to me.

After some contemplation of this curiosity it occurred to me that the crew was probably so well versed in the Apollo 11 craft, and had done every simulation imaginable, that there probably wasn't a whole lot left to talk about. On the other hand, the one thing they were probably the least familiar with was the cameras, and the photography they would have to perform. It was almost as if it was a last minute realization of something they hadn't fully prepared for.

Anyway, I thought this little factoid was pretty interesting...all things considered. Hopefully you will as well.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I'm fairly certain I recall from one of the random TV Documentary Shows I've seen about the Moon Landing, that they specifically mentioned all of the guys spending a few days in a remote desert area, just learning everything they could about the cameras.

I guess they were briefed on "Pictures, or it didn't happen."

Maybe

Pics or it didn't happen, applies for Astronauts too...

a reply to: BrokenCircles

Well, take a look and see for yourself, you can jump to about page 120 or so, or 170, and scan up and down from there as a shortcut if you wish to save you some time. It's all interesting, but this is was very unusual from my perspective.

a reply to: Terpene

Oh, I'd bet good money on that one!! I'm sure they got the documentation of the mission instructions tattooed on the insides of their eyelids, but still, the amount of discussion during much of the mission is still pretty surprising. I mean, it wasn't like they didn't have anything else productive to do!

a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

you beat me to it

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

it is not that far fetched.
Apparently it is a trick to maintain a relaxed mind, in a dangerous situation that doesen`t require action, to distract you with someting that has nothing to do with the actual mission at hand. that way the tension of the situation does not consume your energy. These cams just happen to be the least related object to their mission around.
I`m still just guessing here.

Yea, that makes sense, sound like only got space photography training at the last minute.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

They were practicing the camera lingo with Stanley Kubrick for "authenticity"

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk
Ya well. You have to be aware of the cameras on a set. I mean how else were they going to get the whole moon landing thing televised and live, if the astronauts are not aware were the cameras are?

I mean technically its the cameras people job to film. But I should think that since officially there are no records of camera men following the astronauts around on the moon filming them. They had to set up and shoot there own cameras. So they had to be aware of were they are.

The moon landing. One of the greatest mysteries out there. It could be fake. And it could be real. But people got to admit it does have a Stanley Kubrick sort of film style vibe to it. And also. People back in the 70s though that the world they saw on the TV was the real world. And for some reason you can make a movie of a giant gorrila climbing a tower with airplanes circling it and shooting it.

Yet you couldent film a space landing?

Even more so then now a days. Soo! Ya. One day not anytime soon, maybe they will get to how they pulled that one off seeing how we cant really do it today were the technology has gotten a thousand times more powerful. I mean? Now a days people have in there pocket a computer which is so much more powerful then the ones even sending the rockets into space were back in the 1970s and 80s.

Oh ya! The moon landing conspiracy had died down over the years. But like everything else, its bound to crop back in to the picture sooner or latter.

Now a days? Though! You know people are chewing on moist diapers getting into there mouths and testbuds after a whole day out.

Heres Musk on the whole going to Mars thing. Like he says, a bunch of people are going to die in the beginning. Going to Mars is going to be like a year or more long trip, at first worrying about Oxygen levels on the tanks, and the bunch of other people who have gotten so grundgy being stuck in a 4 bedroom apartment for the past 7 months on the travel.

And once they get there? They will all likely die, but a few may make it back to earth to tell the tale. And those few? Likely had to cannibalize the rest when they ran out of food on the trip back. But the chosen one to reach earth back safely or at the least intact a few body parts missing here or there, but in tact.

He or She will be remembered as the best of those of us.

So ya! We have come far from the day of 1969. Heres Elon Musk on the whole going to mars thing there undertaking. And I quote this vid. "A bunch of people are going to die at first"

So I take it that it will take at least a few missions before, they hit that quota mark of under 80% fatalities per trip.

And yet they still have hundreds and thousands of people volunteering for the trip. To be the first humans to die a glorious and very painful death on there first and only and last trip to Mars.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
This seemed really odd to me.

After some contemplation of this curiosity it occurred to me that the crew was probably so well versed in the Apollo 11 craft, and had done every simulation imaginable, that there probably wasn't a whole lot left to talk about. On the other hand, the one thing they were probably the least familiar with was the cameras, and the photography they would have to perform. It was almost as if it was a last minute realization of something they hadn't fully prepared for.

Anyway, I thought this little factoid was pretty interesting...all things considered. Hopefully you will as well.

Occam's Razor, glad you use it FCD.

a reply to: galadofwarthethird

They did film the landing, on 16mm film using a camera mounted in the LM window.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I have to disagree with your assessment about the amount in terms of a percentage. I think what you need to do is look at how long that discussion is in terms of time, rather than pages and what was going on at the time. Around pages 120 and 170, for example, the initial camera talk is checking that the live TV broadcasts are coming through OK.

a reply to: OneBigMonkeyToo

And that's a good point. I guess I should have been more clear by saying something to do with cameras of some fashion (still, media, TV, motion, etc.) because you are correct. It may have been about lining up VHF antennas, but the urgency was to be able to get pictures (motion or still) back to Earth...and also the cameras themselves. Just seemed like an inordinately high amount of discussion surrounding all things cameras / media, etc.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Quite a lot of the time for the live TV the picture was a bit flaky, or was too bright/dark, so there was a lot of back and forth about getting that right. The crew had some idea of what they were shooting but no idea how it was appearing back home. With other media (16mm, hasselblad) they had a range of f-stops and so on to choose from depending on what they were shooting, so they would usually double check what settings were best. In the pre-digital days there was no option to delete and re-take, and they had only one chance to get it right

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's interesting, I didn't know transcripts of the missions were available like that. I searched and found the Apollo 13 ones, too... those I'd love to read through. Time is always my worst enemy.

I just skimmed through the first pages, and they definitely have a fixation with cameras and sundries. I remember the time I used manual SLR cameras and getting to grips with the settings wasn't easy. I expect that in the heat of the moment, the training they had had must have become rather cloudy.

In any case, I recall reading about the Hasselblad equipment being left behind on the moon to save weight for the return journey. Here is a snippet from Hasselblad themselves:

The journeys home from the Moon made very special demands on what could return regarding weight; from Apollo 11 to the final Apollo 17 mission, a total of twelve camera bodies were left behind on the lunar surface.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Maybe they really didn't go to the moon.
Over selling the ''look we're taking lovely photos of our moon visit'' could tell us that it was all fake.

a reply to: Encia22

You might enjoy:

apolloinrealtime.org...

which allows you to experience 3 entire missions (11, 13 and 17) in real time.

The Apollo Flight Journal transcripts of the flight portions (ie not on the surface) are much more detailed than the ALSJ and give illustrations of what was going on:

history.nasa.gov...

a reply to: glen200376

Or that they were taking lovely photos of their moon visit.