For something different this Friday, some more cool guy stuff!! As I mentioned in a previous post, every once in awhile Ray needs a break from all the birdies and nature trails and we go find some cool guy stuff to look at. Last time it was the Daytona International Speedway and today, the space center!
I usually take my camera along when we do these types of things even though I am not expecting to get any nature/landscape shots. But you just never know what you will encounter and the speedway was a success, so I took my camera and one lens along with me. In retrospect I chose the wrong lens because, well, rockets are uh big! Really, really big. Unimaginably huge. I also thought most of my images would be taken outside where they display the rockets. Turns out they had some cool stuff inside that I could photograph and outside wasn’t very good because of the white sky that day.
It really was a fascinating place – a learning adventure day.
First up, the space shuttle. This is a little toy shuttle that was on display and obviously it was very dark. I didn’t have my tripod so I made this image at ISO3200 (yes, 3200, I didn’t put in extra 0’s).
Check out the Canada Arm. This one was done at ISO6400!
Next up, the incredible Saturn V rocket used to send men to the moon. You really gotta see this to believe how big it is. Lying on its side displayed indoors, it is 363 feet long and 33 feet wide. Fully fueled it had a total mass of 6.5 million pounds. There is some really interesting information about it on its wikipedia page. Obviously I couldn’t come close to photographing it in its entirety, I would have to be miles away, but I did get an image of the five engines at its base which propelled the spacecraft to a speed of 5,000 mph and consumed fuel at a rate of 15 tons per second.
Approximately 2.5 minutes after launch, the engines cut off and the first stage of the rocket was jettisoned into the Atlantic Ocean.
This is the actual control room where they ran the show.
And this is the space capsule, the section of Saturn V that returns to earth with the men inside.
This is the only image I made outside that I like. It was hard with the white rockets against a grey sky. I made this image by combining 3 exposures so I could get some detail and colour in the sky.
Finally, my post would not be complete without Snoopy. Snoopy was adopted by NASA as its mascot in 1968 to act as a watchdog for flight safety. Charles Schulz welcomed the idea and allowed NASA to use the image for free as long as he drew Snoopy. In 1969 one billion people watched on television as Apollo 10’s Charlie Brown command module and Snoopy lunar module traveled to the moon from the Kennedy Space Center as as a rehearsal mission for the historic moon landing of Apollo 11. Charlie Brown returned safely to Earth after 31 lunar orbits. The Snoopy lunar module remains in solar orbit to this day, the only surviving lunar module sent into space.
The “Silver Snoopy Award” is a silver pin awarded to individuals in NASA and others in the industry for outstanding performance and contributions to the space program.
By the way, Snoopy is my own mascot! I have always loved the character, I have my very own beagle, and I named my boat Snoopy since I like to put my nose to the ground and go exploring like a beagle would. That means that all of my boating friends refer to me as “Snoopy” since that is how you would call me on the marine radio.
Excellent series of images Anne. I haven’t shot much in museums and I see that I am missing some great photo opportunities. Well done.
Hi Len, sometimes museums don’t like you photographing and will kick you out if you are carrying a tripod, but I didn’t have any trouble at all at Kennedy. I was surprised how much cool stuff there was to photograph. Lots of times the architecture of a museum is more interesting than the collections it holds!
That’s a great series. I can’t see any evidence of noise despite the high ISO in the first two. The Saturn V rocket shot gets my vote. Great composition and POV.
Hi Andy, thank you so much! I was wishing I had a wider angle lens for that Saturn V shot since I couldn’t get all the engines in the frame and my back was against the glass wall. But it turned out ok anyway if it gets your vote 🙂 I too was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get rid of the noise in the first two images. I used the noise reduction in Topaz Adjust 5. Thanks for the comments.
What wonderful set of images Anne. You shoot with a 7D don’t you? I just got on at Christmas but haven’t put it to the test any higher then 800 ISO. Those shots are incredible. Did you have a lot of noise before post processing? Love Snoopy by the way.
Hi Edith, yes I have a 7D which I love love love! It has an excellent auto-focus system and the 8 frames per second is perfect for wildlife. I chose it over the full frame 5D not only because it is way cheaper, but because of the fps. Yes, those first two images did have noise before I processed them, but not so much that it wasn’t easily removed. I used the noise reduction in Topaz Adjust 5 to remove the noise.
Anne, I’m so jealous of your visit! I’m an Astronomy/Space nut so this is major geek porn to me ;-)If I had been there you would’ve had to haul me out kicking and screaming at closing time as I yelled “just one more shot!” I never knew those details about Snoopy though so thanks for the new knowledge, he’s one of my favorite cartoon characters as well.
Great job on the outside HDR shot, I think you got that boring sky to look pretty interesting.
Have a great weekend!
Howard
Hi Howard, thank you very much! Well if you ever get to go there allow yourself as much time as you can, get there early, because there is enough stuff to keep anyone busy all day let alone someone who thinks this is geek porn 🙂 There is an imax theatre with 2 movies and you can have coffee and meet an astronaut and there are other interactive exhibits as well. It was pretty cool all around, I hope you get there some day.
Great photos Anne. I’m envious, that’s one place I’ve always wanted to visit, and probably the only reason I’d ever go to Florida 😉
Hi Alan, oh Florida is beautiful!! The Kennedy Space Center was really interesting and fun. But then there is Daytona!! I had no idea it was so nice, cool architecture & coral sand beaches. And Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and the Everglades were gorgeous. The Keys at Christmas was wonderful. We’re in Crystal River now and I went snorkelling with the manatees. I love it here!!
Looks like a really neat place to visit, even if it is in Florida! 😛 I always wanted to watch a Space Shuttle take off but I guess I will have to see something else launch some day. With your extended stay in Florida are you going to be able to see any satellites or something like that launched?
Glad you drew attention to the Canadarm. 🙂
Hi Michael, I wish we could have seen a launch. We are not in that area anymore so I guess we wont be seeing a launch this time. But I would definitely come back here and the campground in Titusville was one of the nicest we have been to and it had a view of the launch pad. You look across the water to the island. The rockets are so big you could totally sit in your campground and watch the whole event. One day ….
Great images, Anne. Takes me back some years.
The Canada Arm in the first two images is latched onto the Hubble Space Telescope(HST)model. I worked on that project for 17 years until 2002.
Nice to see all of these. 😉
Hey Jimi, wow I had no idea you worked on the hubble. That must have been so cool. I very much enjoyed the Kennedy Space Centre. We spent one whole day there but could easily have spent more. And the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge – it must have been great to live near that too. Thanks for your comments Jimi!