Part 1: • " BEHIND THE HEADLINES...
This 1964 NASA film, "Behind the Headlines in Space", which aired as an hour-long TV special, discusses preparations for the first man landing on the Moon. It shows various NASA divisions and their roles in preparing for the mission.
This part of the film opens with a discussion of spacecraft equipment, which is the purview of the Instrumentation and Electronic Systems Division at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. Instruments for spacecraft monitoring are shown, including Reaction Control System propellant gauges (0:23), cameras, radiation detectors, and heat sensors. Early Apollo research and development modules, called boilerplates (1:20). Employees assemble test breadboards (1:39). The division’s quality control process is shown, including equipment calibration to Bureau of Standards values (2:11). Equipment from the Environmental Testing lab, including oxygen chambers, centrifuges, and vacuum chambers (2:53). Footage of stage separation on a Titan vehicle taken from an Air Force high-speed camera (3:20). Technicians test heat sensors for the Apollo mission (3:45). A spectral wave analyzer (4:24). A nuclear radiation laboratory for the Instrumentation Division at the Clear Lake Manned Spacecraft Center site (4:35), used to study the effects of radiation on space equipment. A Type 531A Oscilloscope (4:41). A Kiwi-B-1B nuclear reactor (5:02). An employee operates a gamma radiator (5:40). Two employees in the Microwave and Optical Laboratory experiment with lasers (6:24). At 7:25, the Guidance and Control Division is discussed, which handles flight simulation. Animations show a spacecraft module in flight and flight information being processed through a computer (7:30). Three employees run flight simulations with a model of Apollo’s lunar excursion module (8:26). An Eightball device shows spacecraft attitude (8:57). An air bearing table simulates the frictionless space environment (9:16). A Torquer Reaction device (9:35). A linear rate table (10:13), square wave generator, and optical divider. At 10:55, the Structures and Mechanics Division, which helps design test facilities, is discussed. A small model of the Space Simulation Laboratory, with vacuum and nitrogen chambers (11:05). An arc jet, which produces very high-temperature air, is used to test heat shield samples for reentry (12:09). A pilot astronaut dummy vibrates on a couch (13:32). A parachute attached to a module lands in a field. At 14:15, the Crew Systems Division is discussed, which tests survival equipment. An astronaut slips out of his parachute and lands in water (14:27). Life rafts and garments undergo flotation tests (14:37). Men in spacesuit models test a 3-man life raft (15:00). Air Force pilots carry out drop tests at the Navy’s El Centro Air Station to test Gemini spacesuit aerodynamics (15:28). Testers in a simulated spacecraft test environmental control systems such as filters (16:00). A diagram of the Gemini crew ejection seats (16:16). An employee conducts acceptance testing on a Gemini spacesuit (16:46). A Phase B configuration life support system is shown undergoing acceptance tests (17:42). A man wearing an Apollo pressure suit prototype walks and hammers an object in a chamber designed to simulate the moon’s gravity (18:11). Astronauts in spacesuits with NASA patches eat freeze-dried food in a simulated spacecraft (18:55). Two women in white coats pour dehydrated food into tubes. Volunteers on complete bed rest to test the medical effects of weightlessness are served food (20:30). A volunteer on a tilt table; a doctor examines an x-ray (20:53). An animation shows rotating space modules to create centrifugal force (21:28). Animations show G-forces acting on reentry modules (22:19) and oxygen being delivered to the lungs and brain. A centrifuge simulates G-forces in a lab (23:02). Specialists conduct arterial blood oxygen tests at the Navy’s Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory in Johnsville, Pennsylvania. Test subjects are fitted with oximeters and blood sampling equipment before entering the centrifuge (23:47). A model of the Flight Acceleration Facility at Clear Lake, used to test interior spacecraft systems (25:03). At 26:01, the Computation and Analysis Division is shown. An animation of radiation shielding; a man works at a large computer (26:50). Women feed punch cards into a computer; data is plotted on microfilm (27:15). The College of Education at Texas Women’s University (27:47). The film ends with a montage of researchers and technicians working, then a shot of the moon.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2K. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com