Miscellaneous NASA comedies

[hoi.polloi]

Wow, strange. Those "sun" pictures look very manipulated, don't they? Reminds me of "nuclear test" footage.

[Critical Mass]

Wow, strange. Those "sun" pictures look very manipulated, don't they? Reminds me of "nuclear test" footage.

Oh yeah very much so... thing is the technology required to photo the Sun isn't exactly space age.

1845...


1851...



Amateurs photo & film the Sun to this day.

Yet NASA insists they still do it from Space...


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSjZbUzw5KE

At least they don't claim to use toy rockets on balloons anymore.

[hoi.polloi]

Yes, it's certainly possible to get sun imagery from the ground. I am not sure why they might do it from balloons if their footage is this bumpy and awkward. Was it always released this way? I suppose "compression" isn't an excuse in this case.

I think they just want people to believe that the imagery should be taken from space, and to mentally link "amazingly acquired photos of amazing nature" with "amazing space travel". Priming us for the satellite deception. Perhaps some of the NASA dudes really believed in it, once. (It doesn't look like it, though, the way they were loitering on the ship deck or wherever it is they are.)

If people could only remember the laissez faire shown here and described by Bill Kaysing while appreciating the inexplicable pensiveness of modern "NASA scientists", it might help folks wake up to the ridiculous scam going on. There is almost nothing to be serious about when looking at NASA's own little Doctrine of Discovery. It's all clowning and cynicism and money grabs.

If they could convince us to give them some billions of dollars more to make a "pollution-curing" satellite that zaps offending litterbugs from outer space, it would probably sate the head-in-the-clouds liberal public. What other Earthly problems can we cure from "space"? How about we flush toilets to a "space sewage treatment facility"? Maybe carpet salesmen should store their extra wares in orbit for a discounted price? We seem to be missing a way to take our dog for a walk around a block of outer space real estate.

[Flabbergasted]

At least they don't claim to use toy rockets on balloons anymore.

NASA is answering our prayers: this one feels and sounds more like a rocket than a hover craft.
Nice launch station with all those practical high-tech posts and cables. After the sky changes to dark and rainy (1:20), we get a curious "reflection" in the camera. Looks a bit like a "UFO abduction beam".

[Critical Mass]

More Rockoon footage including the actual firing of the rocket...


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8KrEvT-wYQ

Taken how?

[Critical Mass]

This is what all these Racoons discovered...


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szh5cuzfiN4

[Flabbergasted]

^
Very theatrical. And reading from a script placed a foot above the floor.



One wonders how audiences back then didn´t perceive it as awkward and artificial.

[simonshack]

Excellent choice of space propaganda video, CM ! One of my current favorites, a classic - I laughed as loud as the first time I watched it some time ago. The "Rockoon" presentation... a must see, folks.

And yes, Flabbergasted, the clown is clearly reading from a tele-prompter - or whatever you call it. He has no f...ing idea of what he's babbling about.

Well, once you stop laughing - remember that these, yes these are the royal buffoons who launched the era of "rocket science" (in the minds of... well, ALL of us): a Monty Python-ish gang of 3d-rate TV comedians passed off as serious, academic rocket scientists!

But I still believe Woody Woodpecker was more effective in selling the space-travel hoax to the masses. Woody wins!

[lux]

This is what all these Racoons discovered...


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szh5cuzfiN4

I think it's interesting that at the time this show was produced the radiation belts were considered "deadly" but later when Apollo was launched the belts became a non-issue and Apollo "traveled to the moon" in a craft having a hull thickness of 2 sheets of kitchen foil.

[lux]

Some good points raised here concerning the image fakery used in rocket launch footage:


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HymhGInJ22Y

[simonshack]

*

Absolutely priceless...

Q & A on NASA's official website:

Why do pictures of planets all seem fake/photoshop or computer-generated?

Good question.

(...)

Read more: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/faq/index.c ... Multimedia

Why? Why? Why?

[lux]

^ NASA's "answer" to that question is nothing but evasive scien-o-babble that steers away from the fake appearance aspect to a discussion of color in space ...

Why do pictures of planets all seem fake/photoshop or computer-generated?

Good question.

It's not that images of planets are fake, it's just that the color used to represent these celestial bodies can come in many varieties.

One of the most difficult planetary questions to answer is, is this what I would see if I was there? And the answer is no. Color variations are better used to learn about the object then trying to give us an idea of what we would see. There is more information in the color of light an object absorbs and reflects than in what color we actually observe.

As an example the planet Neptune appears blue in most of the Voyager 2 images of this planet. But if you were there, would the planet really look blue? The answer is no. At almost 3 billion miles away from the Sun, light levels are 900 times dimmer. At those light levels, all you'd see is gray. There is not enough light for the cone receptor cells in your eyes to see color.

However, from a science point of view, the color the planet's atmosphere absorbs tells you about its composition. We know that Neptune absorbs more red light than blue, which means a relatively large amount of blue light is reflected off of the planet's atmosphere. This lets atmospheric scientists know that Neptune has a relatively large amount of methane gas in its atmosphere. Methane gas absorbs the longer wavelengths (red) while reflecting the shorter ones (blue).

Color is used to bring out subtle differences that we normally cannot see with the naked eye. By "stretching" the color (i.e., giving a relatively monotone object a full range of visible colors), scientists can tease out information about the nature of the objects they observe.

Sometimes a caption will describe the process used to adjust the color

... but, it's not just the color of the images -- they just look F A K E.

[Critical Mass]

Space plane: Mysterious US military plane returns to Earth

An unmanned US plane on a top-secret, two-year mission to space has returned to Earth and landed in California.

Not so secret really... considering I'm reading about it in the news.

Have they changed the definition of 'top secret' recently to 'give the angle a massive push' and no-one has told me?


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64FnSCdOP14

[pov603]

It has to go to dry-dock after two years in 'space', to have the barnacles removed...

[brianv]

It has to go to dry-dock after two years in 'space', to have the barnacles removed...

That's some paint-job, to withstand those re-entry temperatures. Shouldn't it look fried?