Hasselblads in Space - Funny Out-Take

[websterforrest]

I came across this on the internet and thought it was pretty funny.

It is taken from the mission log of Apollo 15, when astronauts Scott

and Irwin were working on the lunar surface:</p></p>

 

165:32:01 Scott: I guess that'll do it for here. To summarize here, I

think we see from the top to the bottom, one distinct layer about 10

percent, which has multilayers within it. And, another at about 40

percent (down), which looks like a solid unit of a somewhat tanner

hard rock, but it's covered with fines and talus. And, we haven't

seen to the bottom; I think we'll get a chance to look further

down... Ohh! </p></p>

 

[There was a rock at Dave's feet that was about 20 to 25 cm across.

As he finished his summary, he took the Hasselblad camera in his left

hand and started for the Rover. He may not have been conscious of the

rock. He stepped forward with his right foot, stepping well beyond

the rock without brushing it; but then, as he brought his left foot

forward, he caught it on the rock and fell with some force onto his

hands and knees, burying the Hasselblad camera in the process. His

momentum carried him forward and, as the fall carried him off-camera

to the left, he was rolling onto his right side.] </p></p>

 

[scott, from a 1996 letter - "Remember, readers, that 'some force' is

only one-sixth of what you'd get from the same fall on Earth."]

</p></p>

 

165:32:37 Irwin: Dave! Just a minute. Hang on.</p>

165:32:38 Scott: Yeah. All right.</p>

165:32:43 Irwin: Yeah. (Pause) Very soft there.</p>

165:32:51 Scott: I stumbled over that rock. (Pause)</p></p>

 

[Jim comes into view, hurrying to help Dave get up. Fendell follows

Jim but, by the time he gets there, Dave is up. The Hasselblad camera

is still on the ground.]</p></p>

 

165:32:56 Scott: Okay. Ease that (Hasselblad camera) up for me? </p>

 

165:32:58 Irwin: Yeah. (Long Pause) </p></p>

 

[Jim tries to raise the lens barrel into reach with the scoop but

isn't able to move it.]</p></p>

 

165:33:13 Irwin: Just a minute, let me get it down a little lower.

</p>

 

165:33:14 Scott: Okay. I got it. (Long Pause) </p></p>

 

[Dave goes to his right knee, grabs the camera, and rises without

difficulty. He then taps the camera with his glove to dislodge some

of the dust. Jim goes off-camera to the right.]</p></p>

 

165:33:28 Scott: Pretty durable little fellow. </p>

 

165:33:29 Irwin: Yeah.</p></p>

 

--------

</p>Don't get too excited though, they later THREW IT AWAY INTO SPACE

because it jammed:</p></p>

 

134:01:06 Conrad: Why don't we just throw that camera away?</p>

 

134:01:08 Bean: Well, I was thinking of that earlier and decided

that, since this one broke, we might have to put that one on.</p>

 

134:01:13 Conrad: (Garbled)...</p>

 

134:01:14 Bean: (Garbled) the reliability. Doesn't much make it.

(Long Pause) </p>

 

134:01:44 Bean: Makes you kind of mad.</p></p>

 

 

-----------

</p>I mean, you're up there, on the moon, and the thing jams. Gotta

love the good old Blad.</p></p>

 

WF

[ellis_vener_photography]

As I recall the Hasselblad camera bodies that were taken to the moon were left there

deliberately to save weight and only the flm magazines were brought back.

 

Try dropping any camera into very fine powdery sand -- so much that it gets partially

buried, and see how well it continues to function The only camera I can think of that

would survive this is an old Nikonos.

[holger_berger]

Hi,

in the Carl Zeiss museum in Oberkochen/Germany is a space

hasselblad, but I do not remember if it was just in the orbit

or from a apollo mission. The camera seemed to have a sealed finder

(so no view to the mirror, if there was one at all),

I have no clue how they could use that thing.

[ellis_vener_photography]

NASa had (has?) a photography training program for astronauts.

[holger_berger]

Note: the camera looks somehow like the silver camera from

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/hasselblad/cameras/hasselmodels/models/space.htm

[nemeng]

<i><<a href="http://4020.net/">4020.net</a>></i><p>

 

 

To save google-time, here's three URLs discussing the Hasselbads used during the Apollo missions:<p>

 

<a href="http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/moon/index.htm">

www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/moon/index.htm</a><p>

 

<a href="http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/alsj-hass.html">

www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/alsj-hass.html</a><p>

 

<a href="http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/Apollo14/A14_Photography_cameras.html">

www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/Apollo14/A14_Photography_cameras.html</a><p>

 

According to Andrew Chaikin's book "A Man on the Moon" (1994), Bean and Conrad (Apollo 15) had planned to play a little prank by taking a two-man self portrait when on the Lunar surface. They took along a small mechanical self-timer to actually take the shot, but couldn't find it when the time came, so they had to abandon the idea. They found the timer much later at the bottom of a toolbox when it was too late, so in disgust they threw it away.<p>

 

Would have been a cool shot and would definitely had the NASA tech's scratching their heads (which was the whole point!).

[nemeng]

<i>Bean and Conrad (Apollo 15)</i><p>

 

Er... make that Apollo 12!<p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

<i>They took along a small mechanical self-timer to actually take the shot, but couldn't find it [...]</i><br><br>They hadn't payed much attention to what 'sir' was trying to teach them at Astronaut Photography School? How did they think the mechanical timer could trigger an HDC?<br><br>There is much "myth" about, isn't there...? ;-)

[q.g._de_bakker]

Webster,<br><br>What are these numbers starting each line with 'original soundtrack'?

[nemeng]

<i>think the mechanical timer could trigger an HDC?</i><p>

 

Heh-heh. Good point!<p>

 

I'm not making this up though - see p.278 of Chaikin:<p>

 

"Before the mission, they'd had one of the support crew go out and buy an automatic timer for the Hasselblad, a little spring-loaded gadget. Conrad and Bean's idea was..." (and so on for two paragraphs).

[q.g._de_bakker]

Andrew,<br><br>Please do not think that i'm accusing you of making something up.<br>It can indeed be just a case of misters Bean and Conrad not paying attention in class, later making up the "we couldn't find it" excuse.<br>But most probably it is yet another myth.<br><br>A myth like...<br>I notice Webster hasn't answered the quesion about the time code yet. So i will do that for him.<br><br>The lines bearing verbatim quotes also show the 'mission time', i.e. at what point into the mission things were recorded.<br><br>Knowing that, we cannot help but notice how Webster's <i>"they later THREW IT AWAY INTO SPACE because it jammed"</i> happened 31 hours before the event he presented as preceding it.<br><br>Myth is rife... ;-)

[cmonkey]

Did you all catch this recent eBay auction for a space (almost) Hasselblad? I wish I had an extra $40K or so... it would be sitting on my desk! :)

 

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=6532556521&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

[q.g._de_bakker]

Yes, a nice piece.<br>Hard to decide which would make this more of a rarity.<br>The fact that they decided against using these cameras on the lunar surface, and they consequently never were, meant there were few produced.<br>However, had they been used on the moon, they would have been left there, which of course is a fine way of making them quite rare here on earth. ;-)<br>I share your sentiment. If only my bank balance would allow...