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Dying Man Shares Unseen Challenger Video
longacre writes "An amateur video of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explosion has been made public for the first time. The Florida man who filmed it from his front yard on his new Betamax camcorder turned the tape over to an educational organization a week before he died this past December. The Space Exploration Archive has since published the video into the public domain in time for the 24th anniversary of the catastrophe. Despite being shot from about 70 miles from Cape Canaveral, the shuttle and the explosion can be seen quite clearly. It is unclear why he never shared the footage with NASA or the media. NASA officials say they were not aware of the video, but are interested in examining it now that it has been made available."
It's not that it would be useful for analysis, but it's useful as documentation of an historical event.
Cory Doctorow talking about cloud computing makes as much sense as George W Bush talking about electrical engineering.
Why would someone keep this private and/or secret for so long?
The launch and subsequent explosion were broadcast live on TV. I think if I'd shot it, I might have assumed that it was entirely redundant.
Bow-ties are cool.
Why would someone keep this private and/or secret for so long?
Probably saw it on TV the next day and figured it nothing special. This was before the internet, and judging by the age of the guy, he probably never accessed much media beyond his neighbors and the local paper.
I don't remember NASA ever asking for other videos, and from the footage, it seemed that they had much higher quality stuff to analyze.
Then we get into the idea that this was a betamax camera, it is also possible that it sat in his things for years, and when his younger grandson or nephew realized what was on the tape, persuaded his granddad (great granddad?) to post it up to the internet/NASA.
Lots of valid reasons why this never saw the light of day until now, and I'm most comfortable with the idea that he never thought about it or thought he had anything special. He probably thought there were thousands of such videos from other amateurs in Florida.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
... that betamax did not just have great audio and video, *it can survive years in the attic* without losing much of the quality.
Because it was his memory. It may have his comments on it while he watched. I was watching when it happened and my father found parts on the beach which we did turn in. Over all we just didn't talk about it much. It is kind of hard when you realize that you just saw seven people die in front of your eyes. It is some how different than when you see it on the news. Also that cloud just hung over us the entire day. It felt like it would never go away.
Actually even trying to post about that day is hard. So I can see putting it on a shelf and not taking it down until I knew I was going to die.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I wasn't even born yet - but I had heard of Challenger and the failure, though I had never seen anything like it. It still strikes me as shocking even though I know whats going to happen. I feel the same sadness now as many must have felt over 20 years ago.
Part of me feels like I've just missed one of the greatest eras of mankind. Space Exploration, Cold war ending, Berlin wall coming down and all that. There was a time when Astronauts were hailed as heros, now our generation views them as simple scientists in the ISS. They're lucky if their launches or arrivals get 15 minutes of airtime. Seems like nothing happens unless there is a disaster. I know this is not true, as there are people still doing missions in space (Hubbles maintenance is the first one that comes to mind). It just saddens me that it is no longer "Big News" sending people into space, only when its a disaster. RIP Challenger Crew. May it not only serve as an example of the dangers involved, but also as a reminder of the men and women who brave those dangers for the pursuit of knowledge.
Challenger was the first shuttle launch I didn't watch, having moved back to Illinois. I'd gone outside for all of the previous shuttle launches, and we even drove to the cape to see a few. That thing is LOUD!
I was out looking for work when it happened, but it was traumatic for anyone, even just seeing it rebroadcast on TV (over and over) when I got home,so your point is well taken.
Free Martian Whores!
Even distant observations might still be useful if it was shot at a different angle than other observations of the event, and as it's in the sky, and you're 70 miles away, it's a different angle.
The problem with video is that it's not as useful for judging the speed of things coming towards you, or away from you, unless it's of a fixed size, it's not tumbling, and you have sufficient resolution. If this had a different plane of the sky as the other 'official' footage, it could be used to test any 3d models that might've been made of the disaster, and if it disproves them, provide input for a new model to be made.
Disclaimer -- I work at a NASA center as a contractor, but I have absolutely nothing to do with the shuttle program.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Why would someone keep this private and/or secret for so long?
Conspiracy theorists obsess over things more the longer they were 'kept hidden'. Being handed over by a dying man? Well, that's even better. He's got nothing to lose anymore, so OBVIOUSLY releasing it before now would have brought the rage of the Illuminati down on him!
So my theory is that it's a conspiracy against conspiracy theorists.
+5 Troll?
Once a troll reaches +4, you need both fire *and* acid to kill it. Either that or magical fire / magical acid. If I remember correctly, +5 trolls regenerate all of their hp every round -- only a sadistic DM would throw that at his party.
Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
I thought that too when I was twenty and had just lived through the 70's.
Are you sad when an oceanographic research vessel sets off on an expedition without even rating a mention on the local news? When a geological field team pitches it's tents and there isn't breathless 24/coverage on CNN? When a biologist checks into a local hotel before heading out into the woods, and the desk clerk just yawns and goes back to his book?
It's kind of like exploring the interior of the US. Lewis and Clark got all the glory for crossing it the first time - but it wasn't until decades later that surveyors, cartographers, geologists, and biologists fanned out across the country. (The latter two categories are *still* out there exploring.) But they didn't make the history books and don't make the news, they're lucky if they get passing mention on a Discovery Channel special. Nobody will ever raise a statue to them, celebrate the 200th anniversary of their work, or stage a re enactment of their work. Only exploration geeks like myself know the names of some the most famous among them. But they're the ones that got the real work done.
A great deal of the problems with out space program stem from the fact that for so long it's been heavily publicized and politicized, misleading people into believing that if it isn't worthy of news coverage then it isn't worthy of being done. It's past time we washed out hands of these romantic and sterile 'great leaps' and got on with hard, dirty, day in and day out work of engineering and exploration. It's going to be expensive, and slow*, and dangerous - and not at all romantic or glamorous, but we won't make progress until we do.
*Far more expensive and far slower than the 'great leap' showpieces. Which is the main reason we don't do it.
I'm Canadian and 29 years old. I don't remember the real event, but I still tear up a bit when I see the Challenger break apart on video. Part of me hopes it won't each time, of all things.
They were carrying humanity's banner into space. They didn't make it. It's as if a top athlete were shot as they carried their nation's banner into an Olympic stadium.
That either resonates with you, or it doesn't.
Hero worship has nothing to do with it.
>You Americans are rather melodramatic about this entire event...have you every tried to consider why?
Because space exploration is fucking awesome, represents the height of human achievement, and the timeless urge of mankind to explore.
These people died doing something amazing, and thus they too were amazing.
A work that expires before its copyright never enters the public domain and thus enjoys eternal copyright protection.
Well, I can't speak for the rest of the country, but until just now, I never heard a single Challenger joke. To me, that kind of joke has an equivalent tastelessness as jokes about soldiers who die for their country. It makes light of a very great sacrifice.