Apollo TV camera
Encyclopedia
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
-Backup crew:-Crew notes:Jack Swigert had originally been assigned as the command module pilot for the ASTP prime crew, but prior to the official announcement he was removed as punishment for his involvement in the Apollo 15 postage stamp scandal.-Soyuz crew:...
and Skylab
Skylab
Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a mass of...
missions) varied in design, with image quality improving significantly with each design. A camera was carried in the Apollo Command Module. For each lunar landing mission, a camera was also placed inside the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA) in Quad 4 of the Lunar Module (LM) Descent Stage, so it was capable of broadcasting the first steps of the astronauts as they climbed down the ladder of the LM at the start of the first moonwalk/EVA
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
. Afterwards, the camera would be detached from its mount in the MESA, mounted on a tripod and carried away from the LM to show the progress of the EVA.
RCA slow scan TV camera
Apollo 7
Apollo 7 was the first manned mission in the American Apollo space program, and the first manned US space flight after a cabin fire killed the crew of what was to have been the first manned mission, AS-204 , during a launch pad test in 1967...
and Apollo 8
Apollo 8
Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial...
used an RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
slow scan camera.
- Lines per video frame: 320
- Frame rate: (SSTV) 10 frame/s
- Black and white
Westinghouse Apollo Lunar Television Camera
- Usage: Apollo 9Apollo 9Apollo 9, the third manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first flight of the Command/Service Module with the Lunar Module...
(Earth orbit), Apollo 11Apollo 11In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
(lunar surface), Apollo 13Apollo 13Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
, Apollo 14Apollo 14Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the American Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. It was the last of the "H missions", targeted landings with two-day stays on the Moon with two lunar EVAs, or moonwalks....
, Apollo 15Apollo 15Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous...
, Apollo 16Apollo 16Young and Duke served as the backup crew for Apollo 13; Mattingly was slated to be the Apollo 13 command module pilot until being pulled from the mission due to his exposure to rubella through Duke.-Backup crew:...
(back-up to the lunar surface color camera, never used) - Resolution: 250 TV lines (10 frame/s mode) / 500 TV Line (0.625 frame/s mode) / (SEC sensor - 650 TV Lines)
- Scan rate: (SSTV) 10 frame/s / 320 lines/fr, 0.625 frame/s / 1280 lines/fr (not used)
- Bandwidth: 4 Hz to 500 kHz
- Black and white
- Sensor: 1 Secondary Electron Conduction (SEC) Tube
- Analog FM transmission
The camera was built by Westinghouse, was 11 by 6 by 3 inches (280 mm × 150 mm × 76 mm) in size, and weighed 7.25 pounds (3.3 kg), It consumed 6.25 watts of power. It had four interchangeable lenses: "telephoto", "wide-angle", "lunar day" and "lunar night".
Westinghouse Lunar Color Camera
- Usage: Apollo 10Apollo 10Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the American Apollo space program. It was an F type mission—its purpose was to be a "dry run" for the Apollo 11 mission, testing all of the procedures and components of a Moon landing without actually landing on the Moon itself. The mission included the...
(CSM), Apollo 11Apollo 11In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
(CSM), Apollo 12Apollo 12Apollo 12 was the sixth manned flight in the American Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon . It was launched on November 14, 1969 from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, four months after Apollo 11. Mission commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L...
, Apollo 13Apollo 13Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
, Apollo 14Apollo 14Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the American Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. It was the last of the "H missions", targeted landings with two-day stays on the Moon with two lunar EVAs, or moonwalks....
, Apollo 15Apollo 15Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous...
(CSM), Apollo 16Apollo 16Young and Duke served as the backup crew for Apollo 13; Mattingly was slated to be the Apollo 13 command module pilot until being pulled from the mission due to his exposure to rubella through Duke.-Backup crew:...
(CSM), Apollo 17Apollo 17Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final manned mission in the American Apollo space program. Launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 remains the...
(CSM) - Additional planned usage not implemented: Skylab Orbital Test flights prior to 1980. The ASTP cameras were modified to fly on the shuttle had the STS CCTV system not been available for the hoped 1979 maiden launch. by the time STS-1 flew the RCA CCTV system was already in place. (Crew Station Closed Circuit Television CCTV for Operational Flight Tests 08.06.1976)
- Resolution: more than 200 TV lines (SEC sensor - 350 TV Lines in vertical dimension)
- Scan rate: 59.94+ fields/s monochrome (color filters alternated between each field) / 29.97+ frame/s / 525 lines/fr / 15734.26+ lines/s
- Color: Field-sequential color systemField-sequential color systemA field-sequential color system is a color television system in which the primary color information is transmitted in successive images, and which relies on the human vision system to fuse the successive images into a color picture. One field-sequential system was developed by Dr. Peter Goldmark...
camera - Bandwidth: Real 4.5 MHz / 2 MHz up to 3 MHz (transmitter limitation)
- Sensor: Secondary-Electron-Conduction (SEC) Tube
- Optics: 6x zoom, F/4 to F/44
This camera was based on the TV camera used on previous missions inside the CSM, with modifications to adapt it to the lunar environment.
During the early part of the first Apollo 12 EVA, the camera was inadvertently pointed at the Sun while preparing to mount it on the tripod. This action caused an overload in the secondary electron conduction tube (sensitive for low light conditions), rendering the camera useless for the remainder of the mission. The camera worked properly for about forty-two minutes. On later missions, while modifications were made to prevent such accidents, problems were encountered with image brightness and contrast (and sharpness – due to the camera overheating while stored, and operating in the MESA).
RCA J-Series Ground-Commanded Television Assembly (GCTA)
- Usage: Apollo 15Apollo 15Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous...
(lunar surface), Apollo 16Apollo 16Young and Duke served as the backup crew for Apollo 13; Mattingly was slated to be the Apollo 13 command module pilot until being pulled from the mission due to his exposure to rubella through Duke.-Backup crew:...
(lunar surface) and Apollo 17Apollo 17Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final manned mission in the American Apollo space program. Launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 remains the...
(lunar surface) - Resolution: more than 200 TV lines (SIT sensor - 600 TV Lines)
- Scan rate: 59.94+ fields/s monochrome (color filters alternated between each field) / 29.97+ frame/s / 525 lines/fr / 15734.26+ lines/s
- Color: Field-sequential color systemField-sequential color systemA field-sequential color system is a color television system in which the primary color information is transmitted in successive images, and which relies on the human vision system to fuse the successive images into a color picture. One field-sequential system was developed by Dr. Peter Goldmark...
camera - Spectral response: 350–700 nm
- Gamma: 1.0
- Sensitivity: > 32 dB signal to noise ratio
- Dynamic range: > 32:1
- Bandwidth: up to 5 MHz
- Sensor: Silicon Intensifier Target (SIT) Tube
- Optics: 6x zoom, F/2.2 to F/22
- Automatic light control (ALC): average or peak scene luminance
Because of the failure of the camera on Apollo 12, a new contract was awarded to the RCA Astro division in Hightstown, NJ. The RCA system was a new, more sensitive and durable TV camera tube. The design team was headed by Robert G. Horner. The team used newly developed SIT, and the improved images were obvious to the public.
The system was composed of the Color Television Camera (CTV) and the Television Control Unit (TCU). These were connected to the Lunar Communications Relay Unit (LCRU) when mounted on the Lunar Roving Vehicle
Lunar rover
The Lunar Roving Vehicle or lunar rover was a battery-powered four-wheeled rover used on the Moon in the last three missions of the American Apollo program during 1971 and 1972...
(LRV).
Once the LRV was fully deployed, the camera was mounted there and controlled by commands from the ground to tilt, pan, and zoom in and out.
External links
- The Cameras of Apollo - Hosts many pictures and other information on lunar surface cameras
- Honeysuckle Creek discusses some of the Apollo 11 moonwalk video.
- Apollo Talks Episode 8 is about the Apollo TV camera.