Apollo 12 Question

[oliverdale]

Hi

I've got a question for Paul V or anyone else for that matter. I've just received a copy of Spacecraft Films' excellent Apollo 12 DVD set. During the first EVA the television camera is damaged s it was pointed directly at the sun-so much so that it doesn't function anymore. How did the BBC cover this when it showed the EVA live? Did it continue audio only?

Many thanks

Oliver Dale

[Deleted]

Hi, Oliver, I remember that incident well. What they did (you'll never believe this), they used a couple of Action Man figures, appropriately dressed, in static poses, to illustrate where they were at. There was also a model LM, some model experiment representations and a bit of cod moon surface.

I have the Apollo 1, Apollo 8, Apollo 13, the Mercury and the Gemini sets from Spacecraft Films. You're right, they are truly excellent.

[oliverdale]

Hi

Thanks for the reply

Oliver Dale

[andrewbillen]

In fact ITN rushed out and put together some Airfix models to use on a sandboard. The BBC took pictures from an American network (NBC?) of simulated training EVAs.

[Joe Haynes]

Is there any suriving BBC footage of the incident?

[Paul Vanezis]

Sept 1, 2015 9:43:22 GMT Joe Haynes said:

Is there any suriving BBC footage of the incident?

The BBC coverage is a little poor of Apollo 12, although not surprising considering that there were no live pictures. But what was broadcast does exist I think. It's basically a highlights show. Because the EVA was not at the optimum time for the schedulers, the BBC edited a highlights show, including the first step on the Moon, the camera coming out (first colour pics from the surface of the Moon) and the camera being mistakenly pointed at the Sun. Coverage continues for a while with interviews from Cliff Michelmore, Moore and Burke in the studio and IIRC Geoffrey Pardoe. But with no live pics, further coverage was limited.

When I was doing my archive research for 'Apollo 11: A Night to Remember', I found a lot of the old BBC Space Unit films which were not catalogued in the BBC archive. Some lovely stuff in there, including an unusual filmed insert with James Burke discussing the new camera that would be used on Apollo 13, which if mistakenly pointed towards the Sun would automatically protect the camera tube. Some kind of auto iris I guess. I don't think it was ever shown, or if it was, not until Apollo 14 for obvious reasons.

Paul