Dealing with Apollo Myths in the local rag

Sticks · #1 (**permalink**) 27-July-2009, 01:56 PM

On Friday and Monday our local rag in the letters page and someone questiong the number of images taken, with a cryptic reference to HBs and another one with the NASA space Pens versus the Soviet pencils myth.

I have fired this email, which probably will not be published.

Quote:

Sirs

As a moderator on the Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum I can not let comments from {First correspondent} and {2nd Corresponden} go unchalleneged.

First the space pen since {2nd Corresponden}was perpetuating yet another myth. The website Snopes coveres this in detail at http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp It was not NASA but the private company Fisher that spent $1M on development, not $1.6B None of this development cost was passed on to NASA. Also it must be noted that both NASA and the soviets used pencils until 1968 when both sides moved over to using pens because pencil lead could shatter and provide a hazard.

As for the photos, the astronauts used specially adapted Hasselblads with simple controls strapped to their fronts, so all they could effectively do was point and shoot. Prior to their missions they were trained and got to practice with the cameras. That part of the mission was to document the mission, so the camera settings were set appropriately for a brightly lit environment. As for there only being a few images, well the Apollo astronauts took quite a lot, but not all were put out by the public relations teams. Those other images should be available on the NASA website, but it will take effort to hunt them down. Needless to say they were not always the best, hence the cherry picking of the best by NASA for publicity purposes.

As for {First correspondent} parting shot, if fakery was involved, why did the American's cold war enemy the Soviet Union not blow the whistle? If it had been faked they would have gleefully exposed it. For further information, see http://www.clavius.org.uk

I will keep you posted if they do print it, but don't hold your breath

Rue · #2 (**permalink**) 27-July-2009, 09:18 PM

Quote:

http://www.clavius.org.uk

I get a Swedish site when I click there.

Nowhere Man · #3 (**permalink**) 27-July-2009, 11:04 PM

Lose the .uk at the end.

Fred

Sticks · #4 (**permalink**) 28-July-2009, 05:52 AM

Sticks · #5 (**permalink**) 28-July-2009, 05:59 AM

I have emailed the correction

SkepticJ · #6 (**permalink**) 04-August-2009, 06:53 AM

I thought pencils were still used, as well as the pen. Hard to erase with a space-pen.

Sticks · #7 (**permalink**) 04-August-2009, 11:43 AM

Pencil lead shatters and becomes a hazard in a space craft under Zero-G, hence the use of the space pen.

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