Okay.

“However, I have a suspicious attitude to this video, and I can see why moon hoaxers say what they do. For example, in this film, it is funny that right where Neil is stepping down is in dark shadow, and the sand beyond is glared out. You cannot see the lunar regolith clearly like the comments of Neil about its texture and sticking props.”

Well, er, you can for the first two and a half minutes. Then Aldrin opens the aperture on the camera so that Armstrong becomes more clearly visible in the shadow.

And why is it funny that Armstrong is stepping down in shadow? That’s how it was designed – the LM landed with the Sun behind it, and the ladder and the windows were on the same side of the LM. That meant that the astronauts would step onto the Moon in shade.

In any case, it’s not as though that camera provides the only evidence of the texture of the Moon’s surface. There were plenty of photos taken, as well as TV footage.

“The rope seems to be accelerating at earth gravity.”

I suspect that’s only because it was being pulled taut.

“I am leaning toward thinking the moon hoaxers are off-base, but this kind of stuff makes me wonder.”

Fortunately that film isn’t the only evidence you need to rely on. You can look at the TV footage, particularly the colour footage from later missions. You can look at the science results. You can look at the telemetry records. You can talk to the astronauts themselves, as well as to the thousands of people involved on the ground. I’ve spoken to a number of people who worked at the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station during Apollo; they have no doubt that they were working on something real.

La grabación proviene de la cámara de adquisición de datos de 16mm montada en el módulo lunar. La cámara se configuró a velocidad normal para este momento y posteriormente fue reconfigurada a 1 frame por segundo para grabar las secuencias posteri…

It can be found here: http://depletedcranium.com/?p=1887

I believe the camera was set for 12 frames per second for this footage. It’s fast enough to capture decently smooth motion but does not have the perfectly fluid motion of the 24fps movie. Buzz Aldrin apparently operated the camera at 24fps for the historic first steps and then at 12fps for more of Armstrong’s first EVA.

It is very interesting to see Neil Armstrong getting his footing because after all, nobody had any idea how the best way to walk and stand on lunar soil in 1/6 gravity would be. Also you can see his face at a couple points, which is very unique because nearly all the photos I’ve seen from the moon show the astronauts with their visors down and reflections on their helmets, but you can actually see him looking around inside the helmet.

This represents the last of the Apollo-11 EVA footage to be taken as a movie film. After this, it was a one-second time lapse recording which saved film but does not capture motion at all. This footage is amazingly good quality, even if youtube does not do it justice. NASA used only the best film stock of the time, so even though it’s 16mm, the quality of the film is probably better than many 35mm movies.

The quality blows away the only other motion pictures of the Apollo-11 lunar phase, which were taken by the Westinghouse Lunar Television Camera in black and white at 10 fps with only about half the vertical resolution of standard television cameras.

Sorry there is no audio on this one. I can add the appropriate audio if it’s really wanted.

I watched it with a friend in the room, and he ran around the room and said “Yes” when Neil got the last step on the ladder. That footage always moved me, thanks for giving me a chance to share it with others.

Anyway I have reuploaded the footage to Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSGMzq6VqwA
If anyone links to this footage, please use the youtube link now.

Thanks guys.
Jon

ROTFL!

Actually, it would be tough to cover his eyes with his helmet on (the LM didn’t have an airlock).

- Jack

This is the first time I heard Buzz’s responses on the audio, and saw him reflected in the window. I half expected to see him cover his eyes and blurt out “Jeez, Neil! You didn’t mess up that line, did you?”

(fwiw, I don’t think Armstrong did.)

Jeff, these are engineering questions, so it’s best to go to an engineer for answers rather than just thinking that they’re suspicious.

The positions of the two cameras that recorded the event, like everything else in a complex system, were governed by the tradeoffs in the system. The MESA camera was a low scan line (about 250 lines, IIRC) that was mounted in the equipment bay on the side of the LEM. When Armstrong was partway down the ladder, he stopped and pulled a cable that unlatched the bay (called MESA, as Phil mentioned, for Modular Equipment Storage Assmebly) and it folded out of the side. The camera position was the best that could be had in that setup.

I’m sure there were endless design reviews over what focal length to use (a wider lens will let you see more, but with the low resolution the image will be pretty useless, OTOH a longer lens will get more detail…of Neil’s shoulder patch), and how to aim the camera (do you want to see him squeezing out of the hatch and partway down the ladder, or have him invisible until a foot comes out of nowhere and plants itself on the surface?). The same with the DAC. This one was a film camera located inside the LM above the pilot’s window (that’s the right side). It’s limited with how much you could see from that vantage point. With other pieces of the spacecraft in the way, you can’t see all the way down to the footpad to view Neil’s “one small step.” It was able, however, to record all their other activity that took place in front of the lander.

Regarding the rope swinging, it’s actually just the opposite of what you’d expect. We base our judgement on what looks “normal” on our earthly experience. Because things fall slower on the moon, we get the impression that everything should move slower. The astronauts bouncing around are certainly hopping up and down much slower than on Earth. However some things can leave the impression of moving faster. Anything with a pendular motion (like the infamous “flag waiving” comments or the equipment rope you mention) will not damp out as quickly as you expect for two reasons. The obvious one is that there’s no air on the moon so there’s no drag to slow things down. Less obvious is that even in a vacuum, things will slow their occilations due to the material rubbing on itself, converting the momentum to heat. On the moon with its 1/6 gravity, there is less force rubbing the thing material together, thus the damping is less. So based on our earthly experience, somthing waiving back and forth, like the rope, will seem to be moving faster longer than it “should.” From the bouncing example above, we tend to equate “faster” with “higher gravity” so you get the impression that it’s moving in “earth gravity.”

- Jack

Nice footage.

For those of you with an interest in the Apollo program, check out http://www.spacecraftfilms.com. They have DVD sets for each Apollo mission which include complete TV broadcasts, on-board film and other relevant film for each mission. The Apollo 13 package is especially nice, as is the DVD set on Project Gemini.

Jesse