It’s so good to hear from someone who had no idea what went into those photos. Let’s see him operate a Haselblad manually from mastery in the most high contrast lighting imaginable with a spacesuit on. I don’t think the author has the skill, knowledge, or training to get a picture in that situation but we will waste everyone’s time critiquing his horizon line.
Thank goodness there’s somebody ready to defend the Apollo astronauts against the creeping forces of frivolity.
Step 1: Rent a studio space in West Hollywood…
I’m not against frivolity. I think we should spend a billion dollars to get the author up there and see if he can do photography as well. He can even use any modern camera he wants. I just don’t think we need to open the airlock and let him back in.
Excellent trolling! Will ignore next time!
This time, however, I’ll just point out how tricky it is to point a camera and get a good shot while strapped into more than 250 lbs of life support equipment, under one atmosphere overpressure, under one-sixth normal gravity, looking through a gold-leaf-lined visor in bright sunlight, wearing thick gloves, with a camera that has no viewfinder. It’s remarkable that they got as many good photos as they did, considering.
Awful, unfunny post. Sorry, I just don’t get it.
I usually just use the sports setting, 'cause those buggers are usually quick.
Such rage. Wow.
I thought the post was cute, myself. Clearly I care nothing about the ruthless oppression of historical photographs. I am a slave of the patriarchy.
If an iPhone will work in space then I’m good to go.
I think the commenters here could stand to relax, just a bit. I thought this was hilarious, and clearly intended as light hearted and fun. I’m sure most of the angry commenters would decry the [satire] tag for Onion posts on Facebook, so don’t make authors have to include italicized by-lines explaining the joke.
Clearly shopped! No one would carry boring Carlsberg to the moon!
The composition reminded me of this one
This is a very thought provoking article and I do appreciate the time the author put into researching the various photos and the stories behind them. While I agree with most of the article’s conclusions, I do have a few points of contention. Part of me hesitates to post what I am about to post because nobody likes a know-it-all but without sharing knowledge, how do we grow as a society? A little background on me: I visited the Kennedy Space Center a few years ago and I have even sat down to lunch with authentic astronauts. No, I am not a privileged celebrity, nor am I a wealthy “one percenter”. Anybody can arrange for such a meal and I encourage it, as you can learn a lot just like I did. https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/things-to-do/lunch-with-an-astronaut.aspx. While eating with the astronauts, I brought up the lunar photography subject and was surprised with what they shared with me. While they stressed how difficult taking moon pictures can be, due to the harsh lunar conditions and bulky space suits, etc., they agreed that they could have done a better job with their moon photos. They were well aware of the “villain’s angle” confusion that their photos created. They told me that, for the most part, this was unintentional. Sure, in some photos it was intentional but that wasn’t the case in all photos. Sometimes the astronauts simply messed up. They argued that not every picture taken at an angle on planet Earth is necessary villainous. They were right. I found this photo on the internet…
These puppies do not appear to be villains at all. They look really friendly. But look at that angle. This supports what the astronauts told me. Sometimes pictures just end up a little askew, regardless of evil. But we must also take into consideration that they are puppies. Puppies are really just young dogs and it is a dog who is chasing a rabbit in the constellation Lepus. You might say this supports the author’s point but it really might not. The dog in the constellation is the good one because he is chasing the rabbit. That rabbit was the one mixing the elixir. While that is not evil in itself, it’s a little suspicious. I cannot speak on the whole vampire aspect, so I will leave that for others to ponder. The point is, sometimes a slanted Earth picture is indeed villainous… but sometimes it is not. Anyhow, cool article and please take my advice and visit the Kennedy Space Center. There is so much to learn!
I always wonder how many tons of fishing line that must be.
The best part of this awesome piece is the sign-off snapshot of the author watching a beer boil away while thinking, “I wish I could drink this – and I wish I had traveled to the part of the moon where the whole Earth is visible!”
ignoring all practical constraits (like natural laws…) - 1 km of line weights about 150 g (the 0,18 mm diameter class); middle distance to the moon is ~ 375000 km -> 56.25 tons.
eta
metric tons. no idea about the difference to all the small, short, long and middle tons in the US
Very good. Calculating the maximum tension in the line is left as an exercise for the student. (way beyond my capacity).
http://m.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=4.05610%5E8+0.936g&x=0&y=0
Numbers are distance to moon in meters some ones value for 100lb breaking strain fishing line mass per meter unstretched.
Ar the laws of physics be a harsh mistress.
On a note only barely related to the article, NASA wrote about the cameras (mostly Hasselblads) and the training the astronauts went through here:
http://history.nasa.gov/apollo_photo.html
When they were done on the lunar surface they left the Hasselblads on the moon and packed the film canisters in lunar rock sample collection containers, so there are are a bunch of Hasselblads on the surface of the moon.
On another loosely related note, the Project Apollo archive on Flickr has been uploading every photo from the Apollo missions (except 13) with the film magazines in sets here:
