How Duct Tape Saved Apollo 17's Moon Buggy

Ant points out a story spotted on Boing Boing in which NASA "shares a story that turns back the clock 36 years to reveal the "key roll of duct tape in the Apollo program." The quality of the photographs from the moon always grabs me, and the duct-taped fender here is no exception.

Comments

Re:Duct tape great for everything BUT ducts.

[jafiwam]

Sealing ammo cans with cloth tape. Though the origin of the name is a controversy, the term is originally "Duck Tape" because water is repelled by the outside surface, thus making it good for ammo cans. You can get the can wet, pull it out of the wet, and since the water rolled off, open the can right away without getting much water in the can. Or, so the story goes.

photos

[SuperBanana]

The quality of the photographs from the moon always grabs me, and the duct-taped fender here is no exception.

Medium-format sized negatives. Shitloads of light (large depth of field and high shutter speeds.) No atmosphere to bend light between subject and camera.

Also, you've got really hard shadows because the light isn't diffused at all by an atmosphere.

Re:Cameras

[smooth wombat]

Didn't NASA have a preference back then for Hasselblad medium-format cameras with really good Zeiss lenses?

Yup. Swedish engineered camera with German lenses. Pretty much the best of both worlds. For your information.