Apollo 11 - 17 Mission Panoramas

February 8, 2005 11:24 PM

Apollo 11 - 17 Mission Panoramas - Hans Nyberg treats us with a stunning full-screen use of QTVR, taking high-resolution scans of Apollo 11, 12 and 17 panoramic photographs, stitching them together for a full 360° view. [from Slashdot]
posted by AlexReynolds (17 comments total)

Before someone says it is a double post, the site has a new panorama posted.
posted by AlexReynolds at 11:25 PM on February 8, 2005

It's still cool to see the Apollo missions. Thanks for the new material.
posted by arse_hat at 11:31 PM on February 8, 2005

Still gives me chills to hear the crackle of the first radio transmission from a human standing on the moon.

Just imagine what that must have been like - especially in the context of the times (Vietnam, the peace movement, hippies versus squares, etc).

Simply amazing.

When do we land on mars?
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 1:39 AM on February 9, 2005

That's some glorious stuff, and some brutally primitive equipment too. You sure these are real?
posted by NinjaPirate at 1:53 AM on February 9, 2005

Wow. That Apollo 17 panorama truly is stunning — especially on NASA's special effects budget. Were all three filmed at the same shed in New Mexico, or just the first moon landing?
posted by LeLiLo at 1:56 AM on February 9, 2005

Cheers, Alex!

A few years back I saw the ‘Full Moon’ exhibition at the Hayward Gallery (got the book and a poster as I could not resist) and was blown away by the otherworldly beauty and human achievement of it all. Apparently, only recently has the tech been available to print the photos properly (blacks that are really, really black etc). It just brings home to me how far NASA has fallen (not entirely its own fault as allegedly the expensive, pointless Shuttle was allegedly forced on it) since then. I have read that the Saturn V technology was safer, cheaper (in terms of per tonne to orbit), heavier lifting and more flexible than anything around today. Remember that the IT involved in this was less powerful than that in a mobile phone!

What a failure of the imagination that the last few Apollo missions were cancelled along with all of the wonderful Apollo Applications ideas (except Skylab). The Space Station is a wasteful flying barge that does no useful science and Dubya and co can’t even be bothered to keep an orbiting telescope that everyone loves going. Beautiful and sad – we can’t seem to dream this big anymore. Only the robotic missions to Mars and other planets come close, but they don’t have the magic of a footprint.
posted by The Salaryman at 3:12 AM on February 9, 2005

This is great, thanks Alex. One question:

The site says that "[d]uring the last year the original films have been rescanned in large resolution and the Apollo 11 images were released the week before the 35 year anniversary".
Do any of you know where the high resolution pictures can be found?
posted by Zonker at 5:26 AM on February 9, 2005

lelilo, I sure hope you're kidding. That "we never landing on the moon!" stuff has been pretty thoroughly debunked by now.
posted by Cyrano at 7:13 AM on February 9, 2005

Also interesting: How the horizon seems much closer on the moon than in any Earth photographs. I guess this proves how the Earth and Moon really are round. (Unless of course, that's just the edge of the TV studio.)
posted by fungible at 7:43 AM on February 9, 2005

That "we never landing on the moon!" stuff has been pretty thoroughly debunked by now.

Ahem.
posted by carter at 7:49 AM on February 9, 2005

Wow. That Apollo 17 panorama truly is stunning — especially on NASA's special effects budget. Were all three filmed at the same shed in New Mexico, or just the first moon landing?

There are also people who believe the earth is flat.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 8:58 AM on February 9, 2005

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

carter:
That link is too damn funny.
posted by daq at 10:18 AM on February 9, 2005

Nice find, Alex!
posted by fenriq at 10:57 AM on February 9, 2005

lelilo, I sure hope you're kidding.

Cyrano: I just said that to give carter a chance to post that fine link. (At least I think that's why I said it.) I know we went to the moon, because the weather is all screwed up.
posted by LeLiLo at 12:12 PM on February 9, 2005

Do any of you know where the high resolution pictures can be found?

Here...

Click on Image Library
posted by jb5dogs at 12:22 PM on February 9, 2005

oops...

Fixed Link
posted by jb5dogs at 12:24 PM on February 9, 2005

Way cool.
posted by Smedleyman at 4:07 PM on February 10, 2005