How They Almost Didn't Get The Earthrise Photo
- Thread starter Brian Moore
- Start date
Glenn Clabo
Well-Known Member
Goes to show ya...it's always good to have a camera with you. 
You tend to think that so much of what they did was planned and so well thought out. This whole sequence was so interestingly normal...and rushed. Scrambling around trying to get the right film...not miss the rapidly passing shot...cool.
You tend to think that so much of what they did was planned and so well thought out. This whole sequence was so interestingly normal...and rushed. Scrambling around trying to get the right film...not miss the rapidly passing shot...cool.
Last edited:
Dan Cattermole
Dan Down - The Steampunk Womble
Simply awesome!!
Pete Askew
Admin
Thanks Brian.
Chris Dodkin
West Coast Correspondent
Love that kind of stuff - brilliant!
Beth Anthony
Well-Known Member
that is pretty funny, sounds like my parents on vacation when i was younger. i once dated a nasa engineer, this sounds exactly like a lot of the stories he told me. he said they would put so much time, effort and planning into a project that they'd forget the obvious and couldn't see it until it was happening.
Chris Dodkin
West Coast Correspondent
According to NASA, the camera equipment on board was the following:
The onboard cameras for the Apollo 8 mission were modified Hasselblad 500 EL cameras, with 80-millimeter and 250-millimeter Zeiss panacolor lenses.
For certain photographs of the lunar surface, a 60-millimeter lens with a reseau was used. Use of this lens and reseau is apparent in the views that show crosslike fiducial marks.
For analytical purposes, black-and-white emulsions were determined to provide a higher degree of resolution and image clarity than the color emulsions; therefore, much of the photography is black-and-white.
Approximately 90% of the photographic objectives of the mission were accomplished.
Approximately 60% of the additional lunar photographs requested as targets of opportunity were also taken despite early curtailment of crew photographic activities.
Many smaller lunar features, previously undiscovered, were photographed. These features are located principally on the farside of the Moon in areas that had been photographed only at much greater distances by automated spacecraft.
During the mission, seven 70-millimeter film magazines were exposed and yielded more than 150 photographs of the Earth and more than 700 photographs of the Moon.
Five 16-millimeter color magazines were also exposed.
The Blad used to shoot the Lunar surface shots from the Command Module was fixed, and ran on an interval timer, to automatically record images of the surface as they passed over it.
NASA/Hasselblad built a custom rig for this camera - below:
The output is available online these days - here's one Apollo 8 film magazine set: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/catalog/70mm/magazine/?17
Not really very inspiring to look at, but they captured a lot of new data, especially on the 'dark side' of the moon.
The onboard cameras for the Apollo 8 mission were modified Hasselblad 500 EL cameras, with 80-millimeter and 250-millimeter Zeiss panacolor lenses.
For certain photographs of the lunar surface, a 60-millimeter lens with a reseau was used. Use of this lens and reseau is apparent in the views that show crosslike fiducial marks.
For analytical purposes, black-and-white emulsions were determined to provide a higher degree of resolution and image clarity than the color emulsions; therefore, much of the photography is black-and-white.
Approximately 90% of the photographic objectives of the mission were accomplished.
Approximately 60% of the additional lunar photographs requested as targets of opportunity were also taken despite early curtailment of crew photographic activities.
Many smaller lunar features, previously undiscovered, were photographed. These features are located principally on the farside of the Moon in areas that had been photographed only at much greater distances by automated spacecraft.
During the mission, seven 70-millimeter film magazines were exposed and yielded more than 150 photographs of the Earth and more than 700 photographs of the Moon.
Five 16-millimeter color magazines were also exposed.
The Blad used to shoot the Lunar surface shots from the Command Module was fixed, and ran on an interval timer, to automatically record images of the surface as they passed over it.
NASA/Hasselblad built a custom rig for this camera - below:
The output is available online these days - here's one Apollo 8 film magazine set: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/catalog/70mm/magazine/?17
Not really very inspiring to look at, but they captured a lot of new data, especially on the 'dark side' of the moon.
Pete Askew
Admin
Thanks Chris. And Happy Xmas!
Chris Dodkin
West Coast Correspondent
Merry Christmas Pete! 
Brian Moore
Moderator
You must have gotten all your shopping done early, Chris. Thanks for the write up. What emulsions were they using, did you ever see anything about that? I think in the NPR write up it describes the photographer astronaut telling Jim Lovell to hand him the "exterior" film,...or something like that. I'd love to know what that was. Thanks again, Chris. And Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Chris Dodkin
West Coast Correspondent
I did thanks Brian - here you go, and Merry Christmas to the Moores!
Brian Moore
Moderator
Must have been one of the Ektachromes for the Earthrise photo. Thanks, Chris!I did thanks Brian - here you go, and Merry Christmas to the Moores!
