Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Other than being superhumans, the ISS astronauts are also darn good at photography. They not only have the most amazing view, but they also have the skill required to turn that view into epic photos.
One of them is Don Pettit, a veteran of three spaceflights who spent over a year on the ISS. He recently joined Reddit and shared his photo of star trails which quickly went viral. And no wonder, as it’s not only a photo taken in space – it’s also a super-creative one.
Anyone with small children knows that a bedtime routine is pretty much the Holy Grail. Everything good revolves around a reliable bedtime, and astronauts are no exception. The European Space Agency (ESA) has shared this interesting little video which shows German Astronaut Matthias Maurer getting ready for bed aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
It’s more or less what you might expect, except of course, for the whole micro-gravity situation.
Other than capturing stunning photos of Earth, astronauts, of course, do so much more up there on the ISS. Have you ever wondered what their typical day looks like? Thomas Pesquet has squeezed it into a short video that shows a year of the ISS life in just one minute.
Exploring space requires a whole lot of high-tech gear. But there’s something you’ll find on space missions that also connects all of us on DIYP: cameras. In this video, Scott Manley guides you through the history of cameras in space. From 1961 to the more recent years, these were the cameras astronauts used to capture iconic space photos.
We’ve already seen that astronauts can be darn good photographers. They show us what our world looks from “out there,” but it’s not just about the photographic skill. They feel the responsibility and motivation to document it. In this great video from MotivationHub, Canadian astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield talks about his images from space. He shares his motivation behind them and some more life wisdom that we all should listen to.
I can’t remember if I’ve ever thought of a selfie: “Now, this is what I call an epic shot!” Well, two recent snaps from NASA astronaut Jessica Meir made me change my mind. She recently tweeted two spacewalk selfies from outside the International Space Station (ISS), and they are out of this world, both literally and figuratively.
50 years ago, the crew of Apollo 8 took the iconic Earthrise photo. In this video published by Nostalghia, you can see how exactly the famous photo was taken. It contains a visualization of the entire process, with real voices of the Apollo 8 crew as the Earth appeared behind the Moon’s surface.
NASA’s Apollo Program was an audacious mission to send astronauts to the moon – a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy’s in a bold speech in 1961 that was an ongoing part of the Cold War. NASA’s use of photography aboard spacecraft originated during the Mercury Program when John Glenn carried two cameras during his Mercury-Atlas 6 program: 1) a Leica 1g for ultraviolet spectrascopic photos, and 2) a modified Ansco Autoset (which was a rebadged Minolta Hi-Matic by the Ansco Company) which took the first human-shot, color still photos.
Astronauts are undoubtedly skilled at operating some of the most advanced machines ever created by man. Heck, they can even shoot with Nikon d5s. But using an action camera in space? Well, that’s another story. Here’s a live stream clip from Wednesday showing a NASA astronaut asking Houston a vital question about his GoPro.
Short answer: Some Latex, A hat, cardboard and smoke. Hit the jump for the long answer. Be aware that it is mildly NSFW.
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