I was just in Best Buy and I saw some DVD sets, black slip covers, with titles like "Apollo 8", "Apollo 11", "the Saturns", etc. The one on the Saturns was about the 1 and 1B, and the blurb on the cover said, "film of EVERY launch".
Anyone picked up one of these sets and can review them for us?
I've got "Saturns", picked it up at Costco for about $33. Yeah, every camera angle of every launch. Most are fixed camera so most clips are only ~20 sec long, but some are slo-mo, lasting longer, and there are tracking cameras too. Several good documentaries too. 6 hours of Saturns; Well worth it.
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They're documentaries by 'Spacecraft Films', which scored a big coup recently by getting picked up by Fox for distribution.
I have the Saturn 1B set, and am going to pick up the Saturn V and Apollo 11 set when they're available near me. The footage is incredible, just about every pad shot from every angle of every 1B launch. The documentary is good, but what makes it great is the hours and hours of bonus footage from all the engineering cameras. Enough detail to keep a scale freak occupied for years. Wanna see what the inside of a 1B fuel tank looks like during boost and in zero G? It's in there! All the 1 and 1B launches are shown... from the earliest block 1 critters up through the ASTP.
These sets aren't cheap, but they're well worth it if you're a true space hardware nut. I'm hoping they'll eventually make a similar DVD set of Russian hardware and missions.
"Roy Green" wrote:
already on ebay :)
not at the price they are asking.
Ouch
Did the "Russkies" even have pad cameras?
Yes. They were also noted for having a liftoff camera at a distance of 100 meters from the pad. Manned by an operator, no less.
Yikes! Funny how these "workers' paradise" countries always have so little regard for worker safety.
I have the Gemini, Apollo 11, and Mighty Saturns DVD sets...well worth the money.
The only distraction (for me, anyway) is that there's no audio on most of the launch angle footage. Of course, the cameras were too far away from any PA source to pick up the countdown audio...so the first thing you hear is the engine coming to life.
In the Gemini sequences, the sound seems identical launch after launch, regardless of angle. I suspect it may have been dubbed. You hear the characteristic Titan shreak again...and again...and again.
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