Jump to content

NASA photography, + exclusive looks


Recommended Posts

Post your favorite NASA-sourced photos here, or your own of their equipment and launches!

Also,I will be publishing my own digitizations of NASA material here, starting with something quite exclusive:

Moderator Note: Please refer to the Terms and Conditions of use and the User Guidelines.

You may only publish images that you have made yourself.

This interesting and informative thread has been edited, inserting links to images which were removed.

Please ensure the same protocol, i.e. using a LINK, is used in the future.

Thank you

William

 

 

Exclusive look at Apollo 14 photos

Disclaimer: This is a preview, and may be subject to change.

 

Apollo 14 took high-resolution photos of the lunar surface from orbit with a modified Hycon KA-7A Aerial Reconnaissance Camera. The results produced from these military-grade optics and large-format film would be of incredible high resolutions.

 

And while other large-format photos of the lunar surface taken on Apollo 15, 16 and 17 are online in a mind-boggling 4.8 Gigapixels, high enough to discern Apollo equipment at the landing sites, high-resolution scans of the Apollo 14 KA-7A photos are missing.

 

The magazines used in the KA-7A camera were numbered AS14-79 and AS14-80.

 

First, below is a list of currently online sources for these photos, albeit in low and moderate resolution. (To my knowledge)

 

1. Scans of Apollo 14 image catalog by Awe130

Notes: Awe130 has high-resolution scans of his catalog, but does not want to publish them. Perhaps someone from here can request access to the high-res scans?

 

2. Scans of Apollo 14 image catalog by NASA

Notes: As14-80 frames start at PDF file page 9.

 

3. Scans of Apollo 14 science report

Notes: page 282 til 288

 

4. Two AS14-80 frames scanned from (presumed) prints, see two links bottom page

 

5. Various images from his own, and other sources. Provided by Paul

 

6. The US National Archives has two frames:

6.1: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/16701241

6.2: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/16701244

 

So why am I making this reply?:

Because I have acquired 10 20"x24"inch prints of magazine AS14-80 and together with Paul, am working on scanning and processing them.

 

We will present an other source for the images, and in much greater resolution and fidelity than previously online. Most of our scans were previously only available as ultra-low resolution scans from the Apollo 14 photo catalog.

 

We will be providing the highest-resolution scans of these photos online to date.

 

I use my Epson Perfection V750 Pro to scan the gargantuan print in 6 sections, making sure there is ample overlap between the scans. Vuescan 9 outputs two files, a contrast/brightness enhanced scan, and the uncorrected RAW scan. Both files are saved as 16-bit grayscale uncompressed TIFFs. Sharp prints are scanned at 800 DPI, soft prints are scanned at 300 DPI.

 

Paul then uses photoshop to merge the 6 individual scans back into a single image. The combined scan is saved in two versions; the uncorrected RAW version, and a contrast enhanced, sharpened version to try and get the most detail out of the prints possible. Due to the nature of this process, there may be some visible stitching where two scans meet.

 

The resultant image resolution is 307 Megapixels.

 

A photo of one of the prints:

31443324168_1ef8be4df3_c.jpg

 

A Full-HD preview of the links below:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1962/45268835582_117ccf9415_o_d.jpg

 

Full-res 307-Megapixel download of raw merge

Full-res 307-Megapixel download of the contrast enhanced/sharpened merge

 

Once all the prints have been scanned and processed all the individual scans and merges will be provided, in RAW and enhanced.

 

Please tell me what you think! I and Paul would like feedback.

 

Kind regards,

Niels

Edited by William Michael
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paul has done some amazing research work once again, lets have a look!

 

Scan of AS14-80-10441 compared to LRO

https://i.imgur.com/3AQN9yO.jpg

 

AS14-80-10441 is a high-magnification photo of the Theophilus crater, see here Note the website preview is only half the resolution of a raw scan tile.

 

The Apollo 16 ITEK Panoramic Mapping Camera compared to the Hycon KA-7A (Keep in mind AS16 is a NASA scan from the original film, and ours is only a scan of a print.)

 

https://i.imgur.com/HsJPfHA.jpg

Edited by William Michael
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1762967078_spacex12RTs.thumb.jpg.c7252c34f64434d218543fb511093a58.jpg

 

Dutch - Those are incredibly detailed photos of the moon's surface. Probably what was needed to find the Tranquility Base landing site for Apollo 11.

 

The most recent well observed rocket launch was the evening SpaceX launch on October 7 at 7:21:11 PM PST from Vandenberg AFB. It must have been well observed and photographed in Southern California. Astronomy Picture of the Day posted several beauties. Any photos from other PNetters?

 

That night in eastern Idaho, the sky was clear and moonless and I was photographing the Milky Way from a very dark location near the small town of Felt, which is close to the southwest border of Yellowstone and approximately 800 miles, as the crow flies, from Vandenberg. Most unexpectedly, since I was unaware of the impending launch, I was in a location to photograph both the Milky Way and the launch after, I calculate, the rocket had reached an altitude of over approximately 78 miles. Both the Milky Way and the rocket were well juxtaposed to the southwest of my location.

 

Here is a composite of the Milky Way and the launch. I calculate from the published launch sequence that the two photos were taken at approximately 5 minutes and 30 s after launch for the Milky Way image, with an exposure of 10s, and at 5 minutes and 50 s after launch for the rocket image, with an exposure of 4s. Both at ISO 3,200, f:2.0, using my Canon 5D IV with a Rokinon 24mm f:1.4 lens. I have additional photographs of the launch over the next approximately 8 minutes, after which the rocket disappeared beyond the horizon since the trajectory was to the southwest, and away from my location.

Edited by Glenn McCreery
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Far out.

Brings back memories of grade school days and the exciting fascination that went with those launches.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXYjVs_3Cb0

 

Looking back at this it still seems surreal.

Nothing in today’s tech touches the accomplishment in these old films/transmissions.

Something about the human contact with the surface of the moon that isn’t in the Shuttle missions.

Edited by Moving On
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another comparison by Paul.

 

This print was not sharp, so I only scanned at 300DPI. The resolution is still good:

 

https://i.imgur.com/47miek1.png

 

https://i.imgur.com/VApLd1P.jpg

 

Here is a list with the photos and the progression:

 

10412: Not yet scanned!

10441: Individual scans, merged.

10444: Individual scans, merged.

10453: Individual scans, merged.

10455: Individual scans, not yet merged.

10459: Individual scans, merged.

10466: Individual scans, not yet merged.

10503: Individual scans, merged.

10518: Not yet scanned!

10535: Individual scans, merged.

Edited by William Michael
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

After several months of hard work, this project comes to a close. I'd like to thank everybody for their help and insight.

 

All of the 10 prints have been scanned and can be found on this archival website.

 

AS14-80 prints:

Subject: 20x24" b/w darkroom prints

Medium: 20x24" darkroom paper

Scanner: Epson Perfection V750 Pro

Scan software: Vuescan 9

OS: Windows 10

Scan Resolution: Between 300 and 800 DPI, depends on print sharpness.

File extension: Tiff

 

Notes:

!LARGE FILE SIZES!

File size of individual frames varies from 17 to 125MB.

File size of merges varies from 124mb to 600mb.

 

Each print is scanned in 6 sections, making sure there is ample overlap between the scans.

Vuescan 9 outputs two files, a contrast/brightness enhanced scan, and the

uncorrected RAW scan. Both files are saved as 16-bit grayscale

uncompressed TIFFs. Sharp prints are scanned at 800 DPI, soft prints are

scanned at 300 DPI.

 

Paul/OneBigMonkey then uses photoshop to merge the 6

individual scans back into a single image. The combined scan is saved in

two versions; the uncorrected RAW version, and a contrast enhanced,

sharpened version to try and get the most detail out of the prints

possible. Due to the nature of this process, there may be some visible

stitching where scans meet.

 

Individual scans provided as AS14-80-10###-C#-I#-F#, merged files uploaded with 'merge-C#-I#' suffix.

 

C1I1= Colour fade/cast correction enabled. ICE Infrared Spot/dust removal enabled set to light. I2 = set to medium. Highlight / dark values enhancement for greater contrast, usually very conservative to not blow highlights/dark values.

 

C0I0 / RAW = Colour fade/cast correction disabled. ICE Infrared Spot/dust removal disabled. Unprocessed scan.

 

F## = frame number of set or single image scanned in multiple sections.

 

Below is a list of full-res merged files as JPGs (Between 8 and 75 MB each)

AS14-80-10412

AS14-80-10441

AS14-80-10444

AS14-80-10453

AS14-80-10455

AS14-80-10459

AS14-80-10466

AS14-80-10503

AS14-80-10518

AS14-80-10535

 

Paul will continue to look at the files in closer detail and compare them to other space missions to the moon, as seen in my previous posts. New developments will be posted here.

 

I am always searching for more of these photos, so if you know any please notify me, so I can try and get it online.

 

If you are interested in having one of these prints, send me a PM.

 

Best regards,

Niels

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have got a partial negative copy from an Apollo Panoramic Mapping Camera frame, it is 79x10 inches.

 

phone2-3-11-2017.jpg

 

Hans has scanned the neg with an Epson V750, they can be found here: AS17-P-2333 : apollo_16_uvc_s201_as16-123 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

 

A panorama of our scans!

 

Hans once tried to stitch the scans with photoshop, but that software did not work. I've been working on the 'Microsoft ICE 2.0' software for a few days now, and wanted to try something really big.

 

The software can theoretically stitch panoramas of several gigapixels gigapixels, as long as you wait long enough, and have enough disk space to make the process dumps.

 

I used the 13 JPGs scans from hans. I reduced the export picture to 42226x4550 pixels, the PNG file is 132 MB.

Here is the file https://archive.org/download/AS17-P-2333/JPG-AS17-P-2333-F01-F13.png

 

Our scan compared to NASA's scan of the original:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9a3dpmuhg5nmir5/Comparison_1.png?raw=1

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7bjf4lolqodtdka/Comparison_2.png?dl=1

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0om2quf8hfhizhg/Comparison_3.png?dl=1

Edited by William Michael
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterday I received all AS14-79 and AS14-80 photos from the NSSDCA. Looks like a film copy "scanned" with a Nikon D750 and 60mm micro nikkor.

 

The 25mb TIFF files are problematic to open, it seems that in addition to the full resolution (6004 by 4002) photo there is a preview and thumbnail view in the file. So there are three photos in one file. It's only correctly opened with software that understands Nikon RAW. I will convert the files to something common for publication.

 

Unfortunately "old style" jpeg compression is used in the files, so when you zoom in you see JPG compression blocks. I have asked if the NSSDCA can supply NIKON. NEF files without compression.

 

I will keep this topic updated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Disclaimer: I and Paul are not from NASA or endorsed by them. We are doing this in our own free time.

 

This archive contains 251 photos taken on Apollo 14 by a modified Hycon KA-7A camera. These magazines were designated as AS14-79 and AS14-80.

 

I would like to thank the NSSDCA for scanning and providing magazine AS14-79 and AS14-80.

 

I would like to thank Paul for processing the NSSDCA .TIFF files.

 

These photos were acquired by requesting NSSDCA dataset PSPG-00256. A film or digital copy of AS14-79 and AS14-80 was requested. The NSSDCA scanned a film for this request and several months later the resultant digital dataset was provided.

 

Each file is 23 MB and has a resolution of 6016*4016 pixels.

 

The NSSDCA provided TIFF files appear to be NIKON D750 raw files, which can only be correctly opened with special software. Paul was kind enough to batch-process all raw files. Each file was put through a DNG converted, Photoshop will then allow it to be imported normally. This caused the images to turn brown, which was corrected by turning them grayscale.

 

Thanks everybody for your support.

 

Good night.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

A slideshow of scans from 35mm slides used to photograph a TV screen. Slides borrowed from a collectspace member Bill to preserve them for future generations.

 

Hopefully this will bring some people back to the glory days of the USA space program, and perhaps television. Source scans are 5K.

 

There are several hundreds more slide in this collection, covering Apollo 8 through 17. Currently scanning through Apollo 10. Also found within the playlist is a slideshow of Apollo 15 TV broadcast slides.

 

Some can be found here Third party space photos : apollo_16_uvc_s201_as16-123 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive under the 'Collectspace-2' designator.

 

More scans and videos will be uploaded.

 

 

Enjoy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Photos taken by a crew member onboard the USS Kearsarge of Mercury 8 recovery, October 3, 1962.

Scans of original slides, color fade corrected and cleaned with Digital ICE.

 

See the complete album here.

 

Apollo 15 or 16 Launch, scanned from original slides. photographer unknown.

 

Launch Album

 

Currently scanning photos taken by Bill of their TV screen, displaying live Apollo TV broadcasts. Scanned Apollo 8, 9, 10 and just finished and uploaded 11. Will start work on Apollo 15 through 17. Scans from original slides borrowed from Bill.

 

Album (Work in progress)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...