The Cameras That Made Apollo 18 Possible

This film utilizes decades-old found footage from the actual Apollo 18 mission that never ended up taking place, featuring Commander Dick Gordon, Command Module Pilot Vance Brand and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt as members of its crew.

Long Island Museum exhibit includes the real lunar lander which was fully loaded for flight before an unfulfilled mission was cancelled. Parton says many NASA employees visit to view this display.

Moon Landing

The United States has successfully sent men to the Moon through its Apollo program and collected a vast array of data, which scientists study. Yet not everyone believes that official stories about lunar landings and Apollo 18 are completely truthful – some claim otherwise and accuse NASA of running hoaxes like Apollo 17.

The film follows an undeclared Department of Defense mission to the Moon. Commander Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen), Lieutenant Colonel John Grey (Ryan Robbins), and Captain Benjamin Anderson (Warren Christie) are on board to place radar scanners to keep an eye on Soviet activity from space, however things quickly go awry once they arrive there.

An unknown creature creates chaos in the spaceship carrying astronauts to the moon, forcing them to become stranded there without access to Earth for help. They must battle through various perils in order to return home alive.

NASA had planned a total of nine manned lunar voyages between late 1969 and early 1972 after Apollo 11 proved successful, yet by 1970 it became evident that federal funding had declined drastically for this project and would cut astronaut salaries as planned. Astronauts who had flown earlier missions like Gemini 11 veteran Gene Cernan and Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt began feeling budget cuts’ effects immediately.

Schmitt had originally requested more ambitious landing sites for Apollo 17, such as Tycho Crater or the Moon far side; however, these proved riskier than Schroter’s Valley where their mission landed. Furthermore, Schmitt would have liked for there to have been more geologists aboard who could have better trained themselves to identify samples worth collecting on the Moon.

After the cancellation of Apollo 20, Apollo 18’s launch was postponed until December 1973. Its crew would consist of CDR Richard Gordon, Command Module Pilot Vance Brand and LMP Harrison Schmitt; Gordon had previously served on both backup crews for Apollo 13 and 14 missions while Brand would fly on both Apollo-Soyuz Test Project missions and later command three Shuttle missions while Schmitt would serve as LMP during Skylab flight 1. Schmitt had also participated in two earlier Gemini flights as well as Apollo 12.

Spacesuits

As the film unfolds, we witness what appears to be actual footage from the LM and cameras mounted inside astronaut suits, put together in such a way as to appear like archived government video rather than Hollywood-style production. This verisimilitude may be due to NASA’s participation; though details regarding their involvement remain uncertain.

The plot of this film involves an elaborate scheme to conceal alien life on the moon. Apollo 18’s spacecraft crew embarks on an unofficial Department of Defense mission to place detectors, but when they land they hear strange noises and notice an approaching Russian LK lander near by – prompting further suspicion that there might be some sort of conspiracy at play. They discover a corpse belonging to one of their own and come to believe there must be something mysterious going on here.

No matter the conspiracies, the astronauts remain determined to complete their mission. At first they are concerned with radiation and micrometeoroids damaging their equipment which is monitored by the LM’s telemetry system; eventually however they realize they are being attacked from outside their spaceship.

Time is running out for them to return to the LM, but they have a backup suit which should allow them to survive 75 minutes on the surface of the moon before needing rescue from the LM. Incorporating a buddy life support system, this suit was used during training missions as well as actual Apollo 14-15-16-17 missions – this system kept everyone alive during such missions!

As well as their PLSS backpacks containing their “consumables,” astronauts wore three-layer Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garments (LCGs). These comprised plastic tubing that circulated water around their bodies in zero gravity to keep them comfortable while preventing sweating and keeping helmets fog-free – this system was more effective on Earth where temperatures can approach boiling than in space, where gravity helped regulate temperatures considerably more effectively than on Earth where heat-induced sweating could result in sweating under pressure than on Earth where heat was close to boiling point.

PLSS featured a regenerative thermal system capable of simultaneously heating and cooling the suit as it rotated in space, as well as a multi-functional control console and large panoramic anti-glare visor for anti-glare vision. Furthermore, an astronaut would wear Torso Limb Suit Assembly that included an Integrated Thermal Micrometeoroid Guard (ITMG). These pieces provided protection from abrasion, thermal solar radiation exposure, as well as micrometeorites that might puncture their outer suit.

Cameras

When discussing the Apollo moon landing, most people think only of its breathtaking rocket, Neil Armstrong’s initial steps onto the lunar surface, and the stunning photos that captured those first steps for all humanity to see. But there was so much more involved; equipment had to be assembled in order for these images to reach viewers around the globe; in this article we’ll take a look at a few cameras which made this possible.

The cameras used during the Apollo mission were highly specialized and performed admirably. The main camera used on this mission was a Hasselblad 500EL large format camera, which allowed for detailed photographs with incredible clarity. Furthermore, this particular model included an invaluable feature – an opaque registration plate engraved with grid markings which could be recorded onto every frame to help scientists calibrate distance between objects within a photo; this was particularly beneficial when calculating angles between lunar surfaces and objects on Earth.

Astronauts utilized another key piece of equipment called a camera tether. This cord could be used to lower a camera from their LM to the ground and take pictures without having to reach outside their bulky pressure suit to do it.

One of the camera’s main advantages was that it was extremely sensitive to light, enabling astronauts to capture images at various brightness levels – this feature proved especially valuable on the lunar surface where lighting conditions differ greatly from Earth.

Once back on Earth, the astronauts transferred the photos taken from their LM to NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston where they would then be transmitted via satellite to TV receiving stations worldwide.

Photographic Technology Laboratory staff worked tirelessly to make sure these iconic images reached the press quickly. Richard Underwood, chief of Precision Photographic Laboratory at that time, explained their procedures in bringing back photographs for processing as quickly as possible – due to concerns of contamination from space travel or potential damages during transport – or risk being lost altogether.

Conspiracy

Apollo 18 is a conspiracy theory which asserts that the United States never actually reached the moon, with this alleged coverup being part of an overarching plan to prevent NASA from fulfilling their mission to conquer space. Proponents of this theory assert several facts support it, such as USSR having more advanced space technology than NASA which they could exploit to fake the landing, plus relative speeds during flight and transmission clarity for both spacecrafts during their missions to reach lunar orbit.

This lunar hoax theory is far from unique, yet has recently gained momentum due to Hollywood connections. Many movies (such as 1999 hit The Blair Witch Project ) used similar formats as plot points but were still considered riveting horror tales with strong followings.

The script of this movie draws upon a longstanding tradition of fictional NASA coverups and is similar to other found footage films in that its story follows Apollo 18’s crew as they journey towards the moon where they encounter murderous aliens disguised as rocks threatening them during their stay on the surface.

Apollo 18 was a NASA mission that would have seen them launch a top secret Department of Defense payload into orbit. Unfortunately, this mission was scrapped due to internal political battles within the agency; although no confirmation has been provided.

Conspirators point to the Apollo 11 astronauts’ lack of stars during extravehicular activity (EVA) as proof that it was all staged, although astronomers note this lack is likely not related to any plot but instead because their cameras weren’t properly adjusted to compensate for differences in light between Earth and Moon.