Panoramic Photos From The Apollo Missions

Ant writes "This link lets you experience the moon just as the Apollo missions' astronauts did -- almost as you were there -- with QuickTime panorama views. Less known is that during all the missions they made image sequences which with todays computer technics can be stitched together into 360-degree interactive panoramas giving you the possibility to view the moon almost as you were there. Many of these panoramas have been published before, but in low resolution and displayed in small sizes. During 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."

Comments

Now I wonder

[Quasar1999]

How they got panoramic shots of the fake moon set without getting any of the lights or equipment in the shots... ;)

Let the conspiracy theorists loose... this should be fun... ;)

Re:Now I wonder

[Uhlek]

The Apollo missions, like most of our early space program, were largely a kludge, and, in some opinions, a huge waste of time and resources.

New technologies and PR aside, the Apollo program accomplished very little except getting some footprints on the moon. We'd focused all our energy on sending people to the moon, once that was accomplished, we were ten years behind in establishing a support base upon which to implement constant space exploration, and lack of motivation kept us slipping past that. We never really recovered, and today we aren't much further along than we were in 1962, except in terms of technology. The shuttle is of limited use, and the space station itself is nearly useless as an orbital base (thanks to its orbit and lack of any crew transfer mechanism except the oversized, over-expensive shuttle). Can't recall where I'd heard it, but there's a comparison to using the shuttle to get to the space station like using a semi to get to work. It's impractical, we need a small commuter car, and maybe an SUV for the mid-sized jobs as well.

That's not to say that nothing good came out of the Apollo program. But, we spent so much money on it that once we got there, the "now what" train of thought kicked in, and other programs that were less exciting (space lab, etc) received less funding.

Instead of rushing to the Moon, if we'd focused first on establishing a permanent orbital presense along with a small suite of multipurpose reusable spacecraft (large cargo units like the Shuttle, along with small crewboats for crew transfers), and *then* gone to the moon, we'd be a lot further along now than we are.

Hopefully, NASA is looking further ahead than the next "big thing". Slow and steady wins the race, and planting feet on Mars will be meaningless if we don't follow it up with a continuious presence, a goal we abandoned following Apollo.

Damn you Quicktime! Damn yoooooouuuu!

[theparanoidcynic]

By the time I reboot into XP or start my Mac that site will be toast.

Almost as I was 'there'?

[muntumbomoklik]

I've got a beer in my hand and three slices of pizza on a plate in front of me. I can also breathe without a helmet and can't bounce around.

So unless my version of Quicktime is missing a few extra plugins.....

Re:Obligatory conspiracy theorist comment

[Anonymous Coward]

Well there is more intellegent life on the moon than in Hollywood.

NYUD Links

[bucklesl]

Already slow...

http://www.panoramas.dk.nyud.net:8090/fullscreen3/ f29.html

Neil Armstrong said it best...

[Samrobb]

"That's one small click for a man, and a giant slashdotting for a completely unprepared webserver."

The Moon: A Ridiculous Liberal Myth

[Anonymous Coward]

It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)

Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.

Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!

Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.

Re:Very nice ...

[Tackhead]

> Ahhh ... watching the moon while listening to some Pink Floyd. How trippy! :D

And if the colo breaks down gigabytes too soon,
And if you cannot foot the bandwith bill,
And if your site explodes, slashdot the cached one too,
We'll see you on the dark side of the moon!

(I can't think of anything to say except... PWN3D! *snork*)

Here is the google cache version....

[Anonymous Coward]

MOooooooooON

Re:Here is the google cache version....

[Justin205]

Oh, come on... You're not karma whoring right.

You need to make it funny AND informative, like this:

MOooooooooON

Re:Stars?

[uberdave]

Exposure. You can't have really bright objects and really dim objects show up on the same photo.
...Unless you're taking a photo of Bush shaking hands with Stephen Hawking :-)

Blame Canada!

[Morris Schneiderman]

"it took NASA only 7 years" because they hired many of the engineers and middle managers that had been fired by Avrow in Toronto when the new Canadian government cancelled production of the Avrow Arrow jet fighter.

Those guys had considerable experience pushing aerospace technology. In 1949 (yes, you read that correctly) they completed construction and successfully flew a 40 passenger jet airplane with a range of 1400 miles and an air speed of 427 mph.

The Avro Arrow jet fighter first flew in July, 1952 (yes, you read that right, too). It was a fully armoured, mach 2.0 fighter jet.

Other projects COMPLETED by their engineering department included:

1955 Small subsonic jet transport (business jet) 1955 VTOL fighter project 1956 Long range jet transport 1957 P-13 anti-missile missile 1958 Monorail 1958 Supersonic cheap interceptor missile 1958 Ballistic drag re-entry vehicle 1958 Space threshold vehicle 1959 Supersonic trans-atlantic transport studies

Now you know why "it took NASA only 7 years" - and why they could not do it again today.