Miscellaneous NASA comedies

[lux]

Those candy striped parachutes were also used in the Apollo splashdowns way back in the 1960s-70s so they could easily be using that old footage here as well.

And I should also point out that the NASA spokesperson who first told us about this Orion test flight was none other than Kelly Smith ...



... whose simmy appearance was discussed earlier here.

So, summing up, we have a fake launch of a fake spacecraft and its fake return witnessed by fake witnesses and announced to the world by someone who, in all probability, does not exist.

Makes me proud to be an American!

[Critical Mass]

I've previously mentioned this Gemini VIII space movie...


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmaKXA5oDQ8

Now there was a 'space emergency' shown at 18:53+


Here's a Newsreel of the same incident... except seemingly mirrored, at higher quality (you can make out the clouds) & in B&W?


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDyMNYF2w68https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WatWkq4v-bA

I notice the news story doesn't seem to match up with the official story?

Oh by the way here's the Newsreel footage of Agenea & Germina VIII docking.


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-BmYV4s7go

I have no idea how anybody could justify that scene (@4:12+)!

[simonshack]

Per NASA they use three sets of parachutes -- drogue, pilot and main landing chutes, explained here. The smaller white ones are the drogue chutes which are released ...

Dear Lux,

To be precise ... as per NASA (and for the record) the Orion uses 11 parachutes.
The capsule itself is, we are told, 11 ft tall. And the capsule allegedly splashed down at 11:29 ET.

"America has driven a golden spike as it crosses a bridge into the future," NASA spokesman Rob Navias declared as Orion hit the water, 275 miles west of Baja California, at 11:29 a.m. ET."
http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/27557793/sp ... est-flight


CAPTION: "This Dec. 5, 2014 image provided by NASA shows NASA's Orion spacecraft after splash down as it awaits the U.S. Navy's USS Anchorage in the Pacific ocean." http://news.yahoo.com/navy-bringing-bac ... 49185.html

[lux]

Thank you, Simon.

CAPTION: "This Dec. 5, 2014 image provided by NASA shows NASA's Orion spacecraft after splash down as it awaits the U.S. Navy's USS Anchorage in the Pacific ocean." http://news.yahoo.com/navy-bringing-bac ... 49185.html

NASA's caption for the photo says it shows the Orion capsule "... as it awaits the U.S. Navy's USS Anchorage."

So I guess the photo was taken by a passing dolphin?

[brianv]

Square and Rectangular Windows?

Shirley this can't be correct when the windows of high flying aircraft are round - and for a reason!

[simonshack]

Oh by the way here's the Newsreel footage of Agenea & Germina VIII docking.

I have no idea how anybody could justify that scene (@4:12+)!

Here it is - in a short gif I just made :

GIFSoup

- that one reminds me of this eerie scene (a soul ascending to the Heavens?) from the "Apollo 11 launch":

GIFSoup
(as of this old post of mine): http://www.cluesforum.info/viewtopic.ph ... 9#p2378339

[Critical Mass]

Here it is - in a short gif I just made

I too noted that bizarre sequence but in this case I was pointing out the numerous external shots of the docking.





How were those taken?

Perhaps Lux's dolphin photographer is a spacefarer?

By the way, as we see with most of our ancestors 'astonishing' feats, the Gemini photo's are a lot better nowadays.

[lux]

Since the NASA paratrooper assault on Mars is well underway they have now proposed a plan to conquer Venus ... with blimps!


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0az7DEwG68A

According to articles like this one ...

HAVOC comprises a series of missions that would begin by sending a robot into the atmosphere of Venus to check things out. That would be followed up by a crewed mission to Venus orbit with a stay of 30 days, and then a mission that includes a 30-day atmospheric stay. Later missions would have a crew of two spend a year in the atmosphere, and eventually there would be a permanent human presence there in a floating cloud city.

So, it would be like the ISS, I suppose. We would get a steady stream of videos showing the happy Venus Cloud City crew telling us how they eat and drink and go to the bathroom in blimps on Venus! Wow! Awesome!

[simonshack]

So, it would be like the ISS, I suppose. We would get a steady stream of videos showing the happy Venus Cloud City crew telling us how they eat and drink and go to the bathroom in blimps on Venus! Wow! Awesome!

Yay - I can't wait! Love those Zeppelins and parachutes projected for landing on Venus. It'll be exciting to see how they'll handle those 220mph winds / mega-hurricanes which apparently sweep around the planet:

VENUS ATMOSPHERE:
The atmosphere is in a state of vigorous circulation and super-rotation. The whole atmosphere circles the planet in just four Earth days, much faster than the planet's sidereal day of 243 days. The winds supporting super-rotation blow as fast as 100 m/s (~360 km/h or 220 mph). Winds move at up to 60 times the speed of the planet's rotation, while Earth's fastest winds are only 10% to 20% rotation speed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Venus

The temperature at the surface is 467 °C (872 °F), so we should be treated with some pretty hot Venus imagery too! Is Hasselblad providing the barbecue-proof cameras?

Bring me the...

[Starbucked]

CGI Orion Capsule Bobbing in the Sea


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

From the 1:50 mark, Orion can be seen rolling in the waves.
Notice the water line at the base of the capsule.
It appears as a "shiny" region, with the high 'water line' COMPLETELY UNCHANGING, and without water sloshing down the sides as you would expect to see as it bobs around.

At around 2:05 the water does lap up on the side of the capsule and form a new shiny "water" mark region, but it does not look like an organic, real event. No water can be seen to drip down the side. As well, evidence of drying and partial drying is not there. This looks like "digital" wet, not "natural' wet.

Also, notice that not a single drop of water can be seen anywhere on the capsule. You can hear the wind and see water splashing, but no water splashes on the capsule, apparently.

Below showing the "wet" glossy area of the capsule -



Is the American flag made of a material designed to withstand reentry temperatures?

[lux]

Astro-not John Glenn's Ansco Autoset camera (aka Minolta Hi-Matic) modified by NASA and allegedly used by Glenn during his Freedom 7 flight of Project Mercury in 1962. The mission that made John Glenn an American Superhero for his "first American to orbit the Earth" achievement.

John said he purchased the camera himself at a drug store.



Two photos allegedly taken by Glenn with this camera during his “orbits” of the Earth:




source

As you can see the Minolta-made Rokkor lens of Glenn's camera was able to capture a few stars, something that neither the Zeiss lenses of the Apollo Hasselblads nor the numerous Nikkor lenses on the many Nikon cameras used since could not do and still cannot do, NASA says.

Per the above web site, "... Glenn used standard and ultraviolet-sensitive film in the camera ..."

(Virtually all film is sensitive to ultraviolet light. Overly sensitive in fact, which is the reason that blue skies often appear white in film photos unless special filters are used to darken the sky.)

Why didn't he shoot color? I couldn't find an answer to that.

Do those photos above look like shots of a model "Earth" in a studio? They do to me.

[Starbucked]

From the Orion test video as above -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbRgTRSdBLg

Some screen captures showing a curved 'convex' horizon.



A cropped screen capture with horizontal line for reference, below



The problem is, a view of the horizon should show a PERFECTLY STRAIGHT horizon line, as below



What this means is that the video, allegedly filmed from a helicopter rising from the deck of the US Navy recovery ship, going to pick up the Orion capsule which has allegedly dropped from low Earth orbit and parachuted into the Pacific off the shore of San Diego . . .

IS FAKE - That is, it is likely produced on a computer, for public consumption. It is a CGI video.

The geniuses at NASA figured, "well, since the Earth is round, we better make it look that way, with a grossly deformed and curved horizon line, so the video looks real, duhhh . . . and Orion is a real project . . ."

[lux]

Wide angle lenses, especially zooms, often cause straight lines to appear curved in the resulting image. It's called barrel distortion (if convex) or pincushion distortion (if concave).



https://www.google.com/search?q=barrel+ ... 80&bih=904

There's no such thing as a perfect lens but some lenses are more or less imperfect than others.

[icarusinbound]

But Lux, in other shots the horizon line does appear straight - so does the camera cause distortion or not?

Other points - the second /repeat sweep-past alongside the ship looks very blocky/CGI.

At 2m02s and 2m02s there is a very similar sparkle of surreal interference.

The capsule surface has two completely-different depicted finishes: tiled and smooth. In the rolling/'proud' closeups the individual panels are evident, then in longer shot it becomes dark (smaller?) and unlined. See 2m17s, then exterior seems 'retiled' again at 3m50s

Implausible scene cut at 2m36s apparently during a submersion pitch and roll...look, vanishing raft. Another smooth capsule to tiled transition at 3m50s, then back to squat& smooth again at 4m10s. Flag only exists in closeup...it taunts and hides in long-shot.

And at 5m22s (dusk already?) in the ship's massive hold...everyone's texture suddenly becomes....realistic.

Very very odd.

[lux]

But Lux, in other shots the horizon line does appear straight - so does the camera cause distortion or not?

Barrel distortion is caused by lens design imperfections. All lens designs are a compromise of various imperfections known as aberrations. It is most noticeable in wide angle or zoom lenses. With a zoom it will usually be more pronounced at its widest angle setting and less at normal or telephoto settings. It is also affected by the angle of the lens to the perpendicular (the "tilt" of the lens up or down). A more perpendicular (to the subject) lens position will show it less than if the camera is tilted up or down. And, it's also something that image editing software like Photoshop can correct (or not) to greater or lesser degree.

In other words, it's a variable thing that can appear more or less pronounced in different photos taken with the same camera & lens.

BTW, NASA uses this type of distortion in many of its images that show exaggerated curvature of the Earth to make it appear the image was taken at a higher altitude than it really was. If you use an extreme wide angle lens (like a "fisheye" lens) it can make the horizon look almost circular when it's really flat.



But, this commentary of mine is probably headed for the Derailing Room ...