Over on the front page, Xeni posted this fabulous photo of astronauts from the STS-128 NASA mission to the International Space Station. It’s actually a screenshot from a silent YouTube HD video taken on their seventh day in orbit. I wonder what the optimal ergonomic position for laptop usage is in zero gravity. Spacemen are transmitting silent little floaty vlogs at planet Earth [Boing Boing]
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Photo of laptops in zero gravity
Starting today, you can see this very schmancy Louis Vuitton trunk that has been custom-made for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing at the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the Museum of Natural History in NYC. via Hypebeast
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Louis Vuitton’s fancy Apollo-inspired trunk
This is, perhaps, the most famous photo from the Apollo Moon landing. It was taken by Neil Armstrong, who shot most of the pics taken on the Lunar surface using a Hasselblad 500EL camera outfitted with a Zeiss Biogon f-5.6/60 mm lens and 70mm Kodak film that was “thin-based and thin emulsion double-perforated.” Called the Data Camera, the 500EL used on the Moon was modded with a special silver finish to boost the hardware’s ability to withstand extreme thermal variations (the middle camera pictured here has the silver finish). The Data Camera also featured a glass Reseau plate , which produced a 5×5 grid of little crosses you can still see on the image. NASA used the markings to help account for film distortion and calculate the angular distance(s) between specific points in the image. Pictured above is Buzz Aldrin , who appears in the bulk of the Moon landing pics. In fact, there’s essentially only one photo of Armstrong taken while on the Moon, a blurry close-up of his reflection in Aldrin’s visor. Although a lot of brainpower went into creating the camera taken to the Moon, Aldrin says little planning went into the photography itself, which is why he became the unofficial star of the Moon. From Aldrin’s book Magnificent Desolation : Neil shot most of the photos on the moon, having the camera attached to a fitting on his spacesuit much of the time while I was doing a variety of experiments. I didn’t have such a camera holder on my suit, so it just made sense that Neil should handle the photography. He took some fantastic photographs, too, especially when one considers that there was no viewfinder on the intricate Hasselblad camera. We were basically “pointing and shooting.” Imagine taking such historic photographs and not even being able to tell what image you were getting. Unlike the digital camera era of today, in 1969 we were shooting on film, typically looking through a small optical opening on the back of the camera that corresponded with what the camera’s lens was “seeing.” But with our large space helmets, such a viewfinder would have done little good anyhow. So, similar to cowboys shooting their sixguns from their hips, we aimed the camera in the direction of what we wanted to photograph, and squeezed the trigger. Given that ambiguity, it is even more of a credit to Neil that we brought back such stunning photographs from the moon. if you look more carefully at the reflection in the gold visor on my helmet, you can see the Eagle with its landing pad, my shadow with the sun’s halo effect, several of the experiments we had set up, and even Neil taking the picture. It is a truly astounding shot, and was the result of an entirely serendipitous moment on Neil’s part. Later, pundits and others would wonder why most of the photographs on the moon were of me. It wasn’t because I was the more photogenic of the two helmet-clad guys on the moon. Some even conjectured that it must have been a purposeful attempt on my part to shun Neil in the photos. That, of course, was ridiculous. We had our assigned tasks, and since Neil had the camera most of the time we were on the surface, it simply made sense that he would photograph our activities and the panoramas of the lunar landscape. And since I was the only other person there . . . Ironically, the photography on the moon was one of those things that we had not laid out exactly prior to our launch. NASA’s Public Affairs people didn’t say, “Hey, you’ve got to take a lot of pictures of this or that.” Everyone was interested in the science. So we did the science and the rest of it was sort of gee-whiz. We had not really planned a lot of the gee-whiz stuff that, in retrospect, proved quite important. You can purchase a 16×20 print of the above pic and other Apollo-11 shots from Moonpans.com . photo by Neil Armstrong/NASA via Boston Globe via Todd Lappin
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Moon Landing Pics: "Gee-Whiz" Afterthought
“That’s not going to happen.” In just five words, Buzz Aldrin casually broke my heart. Which is to say, the former astronaut-turned-rapper reminded me that despite the haze of nostalgia surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing, Aldrin is still very much an engineer, a logician who deals in pragmatic extremes. Not some romantic willing to dive into hyperbole or seemingly-pointless hypotheticals. The question prompting the above response seemed simple enough at the time: “If you could go back for another Moon walk or orbit Mars tomorrow, which would you choose?” A total softball question, I admit, but I’d just spent the last half hour listening to Aldrin mostly ramble and rehash much of what he’s already said about NASA’s failures, China, why we should focus on Mars , and more. Not all that surprising, considering Xeni found Aldrin relatively incoherent when she interviewed him a year ago . However, I had figured a simple question like this might ground us, get the 79-year-old legend reflective &mdash possibly even a little misty-eyed &mdash or at least waxing semi-poetic. After all, Aldrin took part in one of the most glorious spectacles ever captured on film, an event which garnered what was, at the time, the most-watched live TV broadcast ever (some 600 million viewers). Getting to the Moon is still the gold standard to which invention and engineering can frequently be compared &mdash i.e. “We’ve gone to the Moon, but I still can’t get cell phone reception in my home?” All I wanted was for Aldrin to utter something like: “Well, my boy, I’d orbit Mars, because it’s somewhere we’ve never been. And we should never stop pushing the limits of what’s possible.” etc. etc. Find out what he actually said, after the jump, along with more reflections with/of/from the man Snoop Dogg now calls “Doc Ron,” a shortened version of Aldrin’s nickname “Dr. Rendezvous.” photo by NASA via Boston Globe via Todd Lappin “I couldn’t go tomorrow even if I wanted,” Aldrin continued, “First of all there’s training. And we don’t have the capability to get there [Mars] just yet. Also, I’ve already had my turn. There’s a long list of people that deserve to go before me.” I understand his point, especially that last one. It’s a sentiment shared by many, like those involved with the Artemis Project which puts it this way: “12 men have walked on the Moon. When do you get to go?” Aldrin, too, has explored this idea with ShareSpace , a non-profit he founded to support the democratization of space tourism. Yet, at the same time, I didn’t need Aldrin to deconstruct why my question was improbable. I know it’s improbable, which is why I pressed on. “Right,” I replied, “But hypothetically, let’s say Richard Branson calls you up tomorrow and says, ‘I’ve got the tech; you won’t be stepping on anyone’s toes to go; where you travel is your decision…’ Which would you choose?” Alas, no dice. In the slightest. “Branson doesn’t have that technology,” Aldrin answered matter of factly. Then, seemingly realizing our conversation wasn’t going where I’d probably wanted, he added, “Look, I’m pretty literal; that’s all.” To be fair, other reporters have experienced this side of Aldrin. “We didn’t go there to have feelings or thoughts,” he recently told one journalist. “We went there to do things and to report on the things that we did.” Aldrin walking on the Moon. It’s actually a wonder I even got to speak with Aldrin. Never mind it was two days before he was set to embark on his “40th Anniversary Tour” &mdash which his publicist, whose official title is “Mission Control Director,” said was booked solid with interviews from 6am to 6pm. Instead, consider that for a number of years Aldrin was not only completely adverse to giving interviews, but lost in depression and alcoholism. As Susan Faludi recounts in Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man , Aldrin’s rise and fall came rather quickly. On the Apollo publicity tour, he was introduced to the bittersweet nature of celebrity. At myriad public appearances, he and Armstrong faced a seemingly unending barrage of interviews, cameras, microphones and hordes of screaming fans. “People were crawling all over us…,” Aldrin once explained, “I was overcome by nausea and dizziness.”* By the time the decorated moonwalker left NASA in 1971, he’d “sunk in a morass of despair.” Over the years, the state of his career, a failed marriage and what he was going to do with his life all weighed heavily on him. He explores all of this quite candidly in Magnificent Desolation , and today he doesn’t seem to hold back in interviews, including this one. “I was done talking about all this,” he told me. “If I tried public speaking, I’d freeze up. But I’ve met and married a woman who has helped me. Now I’m taking on new challenges that 20 years ago I wouldn’t have. I realize I want to reach the younger generation; that’s why I’ve got a Twitter and a BlackBerry.” Before I even have a chance to ask him about Snoop Dogg, Aldrin wonders, quite proudly, and completely out of nowhere, “Have you seen my video?” He tells me he worked with professional voice coaches in preparation for the stunt. Previously, he appeared alongside Elton John to sing part of “Rocket Man,” a performance Aldrin admitted to me was “embarrassing.” While I appreciate his efforts, I’d be lying if I said Aldrin’s publicity push didn’t strike me as a somewhat transparent attempt to seem hip and, to put it more crassly, sell books. Of course, I’d also be lying if I didn’t give it up that Aldrin is a true renegade, worthy hero and a total badass. He has never shied away from venting that NASA astronauts were forced into early retirement, didn’t receive adequate compensation, and even more interestingly to me, aren’t given their due respect for their service. “Anyone who visits a foreign country on behalf of their government gets called an Ambassador,” he told me, “That’s why I’d like to be known as a Lunar Ambassador, the Honorary Lunar Ambassador… When China gets to the Moon, you don’t think those astronauts are going to be taken care of for life?” Does he sound bitter? A little. Does he deserve to be? I’d argue, yes . After all, despite the above points, the guy cannot escape the daunting estimate that 6% of all Americans still believe the Moonlanding to be a hoax . Considering he risked his life for science and his country, and having talked to him about this, I find that stat more sad and depressing than ever before. On the surface, it can certainly be amusing to watch what happens when his buttons get pushed. Like when Ali G famously asked Aldrin, “What was it like not being the first man on the Moon? Was you ever jealous of Louis Armstrong?” …or when conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel really got to Aldrin in 2002, prompting fisticuffs… “I got to a point where my emotions took over,” Aldrin explained when I asked him whether he regretted punching Sibrel. “There are people who have been misled and it’s not their fault, but they continue to believe otherwise. It’s not a good idea [to react by hitting someone], because there are legal matters that follow, but other people would thank me for doing what I did and taking a stand.” Aldrin’s footprint. Days later, I find myself navigating Aldrin’s web site , staring at snapshots of him through the years: Buzz posing with President Regan. Buzz with Liz Taylor. Buzz holding a bald eagle. As I come to the famous photo Aldrin snapped of his footprint on the Lunar surface (above), I remember his desire to be called the Honorary Lunar Ambassador. At the time, I had told him I’d happily call him whatever he wished &mdash both because I hoped to win favor with him and, well, I really do feel he deserves it. “Thanks,” he said, the realist in him taking over, “But I need the President or Secretary of State to call me that.” *When I spoke to Aldrin, I mentioned the statistic that 50% of all astronauts report feeling a perpetual state of nausea while in space. I asked whether that was his experience. It wasn’t. Ironically, it wasn’t until his return to Earth that that those symptoms became an issue for him.
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Buzz Aldrin: Engineer, Rapper, Heart-Breaking Realist
The teaser trailer for the new HBO show, The Pacific , a 10-part follow up to what is perhaps my favorite piece of filmed media of all time, Band of Brothers . I am in goosebumps and on the edge of tears, and I haven’t even freaking watched it yet.
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Teaser: The Pacific
Louis Vuitton is the most worthless, overhyped fashion brand ever to exist, but I can comfortable ignore that for putting three great spacers in their latest ad campaign . I can’t ever imagine owning any LV crap myself, but now I sort of want to see a space suit covered in fleur-de-lis. [via Racked ]
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Buzz Aldrin, Sally Ride, Jim Lovell for Louis Vuitton
David Hambling : Special Forces also funded the development of another technology by Polyshok Inc., known as the Impact Reactive Projectile. The firm says this 12-gauge ammunition solid slug acts as a liquid. Unlike other projectiles, it will not over penetrate and go through walls. It pretty much stops where it hits - and causes gigantic injuries in the process.
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Knock Knock: Liquid Metal Breeching Rounds
( Download MP4 / Watch on YouTube ) In today’s edition of Boing Boing Video , guest-host Todd Lappin explores a massive collection of historical military vehicles tanks collected by an eccentric Silicon Valley multimillionaire. The recently-departed Jacques Littlefield amassed one of the world’s largest and most significant collections of this type, and his collection is now overseen by the nonprofit Military Vehicle Technology Foundation . Snip from their description: Our goal is to acquire, restore, and interpret the historical significance of 20th and 21st century military vehicles. Domestic and foreign combat vehicles such as tanks, armored cars, self-propelled artillery, and other technically interesting mobile platforms are the focus of the collection. We also maintain an extensive technical library that describes many vehicles down to the part level. Aside from the vehicles, there are towed artillery, antitank, and antiaircraft guns. Military support equipment, inert ordnance, and accessories round out the collection. The foundation is supported by public donations, and you can make one at their website if you dig what they do. To make arrangements for tours, you can email tours.mvtf at gmail.com. To arrange access to the collection for commercial purposes: permissions.mvtf at gmail.com. The “tank tour” BBV shot for this episode was organized by BB pal Karen Marcelo and Dorkbot SF . They put on interesting events like this every month! Karen says, June, 2009 is the 7 year anniversary of dorkbotSF. We have two cool events coming up, hope the some of the Boing Boing readers will come out for them! First one is jun 3 - at Greg Leyh’s lightning lab. A live demo of scaled-down model of greg’s 12-story Tesla coils, debut of Marc Powell’s new software, and cool light printer from Jonathan Foote. Then Jon Sarriugarte is hosting a big bash on the 20th ! snail car, muffin cars, tesla roadster makers, fireworks, omega recoil’s tesla coils, blacksmithing, etc. and he said more surprises he doesnt want to mention in advance! Where to Find Boing Boing Video : RSS feed for new episodes here, YouTube channel here , subscribe on iTunes here . Get Twitter updates every time there’s a new ep by following @ boingboingvideo , and here are blog post archives for Boing Boing Video . (Thanks to Boing Boing’s video hosting partner Episodic , and to shooter-producer extraordinaire Eddie Codel and to our host Todd Lappin )
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BB Video: "Tank Tour" - One of World’s Largest Collections of Historic Military Technology
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