Comment by ArnoVW

Comment by ArnoVW 2 days ago

5 replies

those engineering cameras were not your regular run-of-the mill cameras neither.

NASA published a 45 min documentary of the 10-15 engineering cameras of an STS launch., with comments on the engineering aspets of the launch procedure.

Very beautiful, relaxing, has an almost meditative quality. Highly recommend it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFwqZ4qAUkE

philipwhiuk 2 days ago

Yeah and Shuttle cost a fortune per launch.

Views are distinctly secondary to an affordable launch program.

  • sandworm101 2 days ago

    And the cost of the camera program was paid back a hundred times as that footage was used to diagnose, correct and improve countless systems. Accident investigations would have taken ten times as long without that footage.

    • nickff 2 days ago

      I absolutely love that beautiful film footage, particularly well-exhibited in one of my favorite documentaries, the spectacular "When We Left Earth" (a lovely and lengthy series). That said...

      Modern rockets have the ability to stream a great deal more data, including live camera streams, than the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo or Space Shuttle could. This increased real-time data bandwidth is probably much more valuable than high-dynamic-range cameras were.

      • sandworm101 2 days ago

        Telemetry only records what you deem interesting prior to flight. When something goes really wrong it probably came from something you were not expecting, like foam insulation. Cameras recorded everything visible, even the stuff you don't think important.

  • bell-cot 2 days ago

    I'd assume that BO has plenty of high-res/high-contrast-range imagery - that's just too useful for engineering analysis, post-launch.

    What they release to the public is a separate issue.