
Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch - pjmorris
http://vimeo.com/4366695
======
_delirium
Is a version of this footage available directly from NASA, in the public
domain and without the commentary/etc.? I've searched around the NASA video
archives a bit and haven't found a version on their site. Or did this company,
Spacecraft Films, do the transfer from the 16mm film themselves?

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eksith
The NASA video gallery is really heavier on current/recent videos, but you can
give a quick search.
[http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery](http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery)

They really should come up with a more comprehensive central repository.

The other source would be Archive.org :
[http://archive.org/search.php?query=nasa%20apollo%2011%20AND...](http://archive.org/search.php?query=nasa%20apollo%2011%20AND%20mediatype%3Amovies)

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gregorkas
As alien as this video is, I must say it's one of the most beautiful things I
have ever seen as it directly represents the power of human knowledge. If I
would fit into that camera's case, I would give anything to watch something
like this in person.

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MiguelHudnandez
You'd just see some blinding white light for a few seconds and then maybe
nothing else for the rest of your life. Our human eyes and brains limit us
from perceiving even everyday things with the majesty they deserve.

Even popping water balloons looks amazing in high speed video. On YouTube,
there is a community of people doing silly things with high speed cameras that
makes for stimulating watching:

Smarter Every Day: weird glass phenomenon
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-f4gokRBs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-f4gokRBs)

Smarter Every Day: cat righting itself in midair
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtWbpyjJqrU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtWbpyjJqrU)

Lots of high speed videos
[http://m.youtube.com/user/theslowmoguys](http://m.youtube.com/user/theslowmoguys)

~~~
xk_id
I wouldn't dismiss our perception as lacking majesty :) That would be very
depressing. Subjectivity aside, however, you're right – what we experience is
determined in part by the constrains of our nervous system and perception
organs (remember the rapidly spinning fan blades that look like a disk?). But,
this is just the conditions on life, a fact to which we need to adjust, for we
cannot change it.

It's also worth pointing out that for humans, this is where science comes in
:)

The slow motion videos illustrate very convincingly that we are always
omitting data. I love them for that. One cannot watch them and not be
persuaded into a sense of how unavoidably probabilistic our inferences are, as
well as into a sense of wonderment and curiosity. They are both desirable
responses, because they are key to sanity.

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bayesianhorse
This footage reminds me of a post some time back about why in 1969 it was
actually easier to fly to the moon than fake all the video footage.

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kghose
[http://vimeo.com/4366695](http://vimeo.com/4366695)

Great commentary!

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MiguelHudnandez
Thanks for the non-blogspam version of the link. It's really a great video
with no need for editorializing.

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paol
Those who like this will probably like the short documentary "Ascent -
Commemorating Shuttle" produced by a some NASA engineers. It uses similar
footage from launchpad cams, with lots of technical commentary.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFwqZ4qAUkE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFwqZ4qAUkE)

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kens
This video is well worth watching. I almost skipped it, expecting the same old
launch footage, but it is a slow motion closeup of the engines and exhaust
with very interesting commentary. (You can skip the last couple minutes
without missing much, though.)

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gtrubetskoy
Koyaanisqatsi, the 1982 movie uses similar footage from the Apollo 12:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9K0013nITs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9K0013nITs)

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rbanffy
Nothing, I believe, better illustrates the human potential than the space race
that culminated with the Apollo lunar landings. We should be doing more of
that.

~~~
e3pi
A well defined objective, successfully completed, is a well-defined objective
terminated.

What a fantastic mountain of effort, focused dedicated enthusiasm, and skill-
sets, left adrift and carelessly abandoned. I have read schematics of some
Apollo entire sub-systems, have completely disappeared.

And then there is the decades long disappointment. We see few Shuttle posts on
HN.

~~~
rbanffy
Indeed. New objectives should have been set. The shuttles, while a marvelous
achievement of engineering, were ruined by the politics around them - so many
different mission profiles they were designed to do that nothing was left that
could be done practically. And yes - going to LEO is not nearly as
inspirational as going where no one has gone before.

