Limbo Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 I accidentally found this auction on ebay of this guy selling allegedly original negatives from the Apollo 17 mission. Panoramic shots, 6ft wide by 9 inches. I was gullible enough to buy three of them and I wonder if there's any way to authenticate those... not that I think they are fake, it just seemed to me that this kind of memorabilia would be worth more than the $75 he was asking for it... The same guy also happen to be selling a McDonnell Douglas "Star Wars " Satellite (SDI), what helped me belive the negatives are real... Heres the link for the aution Auction for the Star Wars satellite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingNor Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 NASA took tons of photos of the moon on the apollo missions and from what i understand their book keeping afterwards wasn't so good. ie: things got lost, were un-documented, filed away and forgotten about. I also remember hearing that NASA doesn't own originals of most of it's moon images anymore either. so it seems pretty likely this might be real. Try out http://www.bautforum.com/ in their Questions and Answers section and you'll probably have a lot more luck than on MacrossWorld finding good answers. if... if they're real do you think you could make a print for me??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerwalk25 Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 He must be a reputable dealer. His feedback is %100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limbo Posted March 1, 2007 Author Share Posted March 1, 2007 if... if they're real do you think you could make a print for me??? I would love to! Draw me a map on how to make a print of a 6ft by 9" negative ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoveringCheesecake Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 A Star Wars satellite? WTF? A mock-up, I assume? Still, that'd be a crazy conversation piece. "Hey Bill, what's that huge thing in your garage?" "Oh, that's just a multi-million dollar satellite from Reagan's SDI project." *squirts beer out of nose* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greyryder Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 I want that sattelite. I could mount it on the roof, to shoot death beams at snowmobilers that cut across the yard. *begins laughing dementedly, and making "pew pew" sounds* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoveringCheesecake Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 It's the perfect weapon for an evil millionaire! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limbo Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 A Star Wars satellite? WTF? A mock-up, I assume? Still, that'd be a crazy conversation piece. No mockup. The dude claims it to be the real deal... not sure if comes with the death ray though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 The guy misspelled "Apollo." These can't be real. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwwmwww Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 I would love to! Draw me a map on how to make a print of a 6ft by 9" negative ... What kind of camera makes 6ft by 9" negatives? Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necron_99 Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 A Star Wars satellite? WTF? A mock-up, I assume? Still, that'd be a crazy conversation piece. "Hey Bill, what's that huge thing in your garage?" "Oh, that's just a multi-million dollar satellite from Reagan's SDI project." *squirts beer out of nose* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 Check out his other auctions, he has some magic beans for sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingNor Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 What kind of camera makes 6ft by 9" negatives? Carl you know, i'd kind of assumed it was a mosaic. is the "negative" itself really one big 6 foot continuous thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limbo Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 you know, i'd kind of assumed it was a mosaic. is the "negative" itself really one big 6 foot continuous thing? I got the thing in the mail. EACH POSE is 6ft wide! The guy sent me uncut sequencial frames, so I have a huge 18ft x 9" strip of negative film, making 3 6ft panoramic frames the moon. Apparently it was shot on Kodak 2420 film, used on aerial surveillance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JsARCLIGHT Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 Why do I find it strange that something as "important" to national defense as a Regan era SDI satellite is legal for a private party to own let alone sell in an open forum? Wouldn't that be like me prying a guidance computer out of a cruise missile or pulling the avionics package out of a F117 and trying to sell those on eBay? I know for a fact that the .gov strictly cracks down on current and former "government property" sales. I mean, you can't legally sell a carton of gov issue MRE's anywhere, but you CAN sell "Fake" civilian market ones. If uncle sam is touchy about people selling meals in bags I wonder how he feels about some yahoo selling one of their prized projects from the '80s out of his backyard? And even more confusing is if that satellite IS real, just how did this guy come into possession of it? You didn't just walk into McDonnell Douglas or even a museum and waltz out with a chunk of military hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 NASA took tons of photos of the moon on the apollo missions and from what i understand their book keeping afterwards wasn't so good. ie: things got lost, were un-documented, filed away and forgotten about. I also remember hearing that NASA doesn't own originals of most of it's moon images anymore either. so it seems pretty likely this might be real. Try out http://www.bautforum.com/ in their Questions and Answers section and you'll probably have a lot more luck than on MacrossWorld finding good answers. if... if they're real do you think you could make a print for me??? Yeah there was a story in the past 12 months about how a bunch of pictures, movie footage, etc. from the Apollo program is missing. As for the "SDI Satellite", I'm really not really sure what to say. It looks like it's authentic aerospace related gear and the the gold foil would seem to be indicative that this was part of a satellite, but I don't think its an entire satellite; looks pretty small for something that might be for early warning detection, weapon guidance, or as a weapons platform. It would be interesting to find out the true origin and design of that piece of equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akilae Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 From what I gather, yes, NASA does have a bad habit of misplacing items, due to: 1) Massive inventory. 2) Shoddy record keeping. 3) Employee dishonesty. So if the negative is authentic, I imagine that it was obtained through rather dubious means. If that's the case, if the government deemed fit, they could probably come after you for it. Won't arrest you or anything, but they would likely demand it back. Of course all this is from hearsay, so take it was you will. Now, if it's SDI related, then I'd definately watch it. SDI isn't defunct in any way, and research is still active in that area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limbo Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 (edited) Quick snapshot of the negatives Nice sunny day in Florida, so I tape them in front of a white curtain on my french doors. The lenght of each strip is about 7ft x 9in. Edited March 3, 2007 by Limbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M'Kyuun Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Something about the satellite smells...illegal. I've worked with McDonnell-Douglas hardware, and the plate looks genuine, albeit a bit clean for an item over twenty years old. I would definitely have to question where a private citizen could procure a piece of equipment like this, as I would suspect it still retains a classification of "Secret" or higher. To my knowledge, not even obsolete electronic and avionics equipment from retired aircraft are sold to private sector; the former Soviet Union, the Chinese, and various other countries with the will, the money, and the science could potentially obtain this item easily and determine its function. Conversely, despite the redneck surroundings in the pics, it would be ironic if the CIA was behind this, trolling for spies and terrorists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limbo Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 Conversely, despite the redneck surroundings in the pics, it would be ironic if the CIA was behind this, trolling for spies and terrorists. Funny you mention that... I was wondering why is a defence Satellite sitting wide open in front of a trailer park myself... I'm just surprised with the price tag. It gotta be real. Anybody shelling out 250.000 would have the means to authenticate the item. I wonder if McDonnell-Douglas could authenticate and maybe explain how Bobba got the Star Wars Satellite... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Rogers Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 If men in black show up at your door one day demanding that you return government property, then those are real. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Hey, one guy in the US bought an F-18. Partially disassembled, but the real deal. Made the news, and I think the govt confiscated it, but it happened. And there's of course big problems with F-14 parts getting out now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoveringCheesecake Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Someone should e-mail that auction link to McDonnell-Douglass and see what they have to say about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 I think you'd technically want this now: http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/ic/sis/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uxi Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Hey, one guy in the US bought an F-18. Partially disassembled, but the real deal. Made the news, and I think the govt confiscated it, but it happened. And there's of course big problems with F-14 parts getting out now. AS long as the weapon systems aren't mounted, what would be the grounds? Bill Gates can probably afford to keep a few F-18's operational... why shouldn't he be allowed to own one? Though I imagine if I was Billy Gates, I'd have something much better like the Bat Plane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB0 Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Though I imagine if I was Billy Gates, I'd have something much better like the Bat Plane. Bill Gates actually owns the inspiration for the Transformers XWing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skullsixx Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 What kind of camera makes 6ft by 9" negatives? Carl One expensive ass frakin' camera from NASA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB0 Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 One expensive ass frakin' camera from NASA. Well, it's not exactly strange for a panorama camera. 9" isn't an odd frame width for professional applications. It captures enough detail that you can do a lot of serious studying of the image. And let's be honest, if you're gonna be one of only a dozen people to walk the moon, you want the best damn pictures you can take. But yeah, the camera was expensive. Pretty much everything we send into space is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limbo Posted March 5, 2007 Author Share Posted March 5, 2007 (edited) Well, it's not exactly strange for a panorama camera. 9" isn't an odd frame width for professional applications. It captures enough detail that you can do a lot of serious studying of the image. And let's be honest, if you're gonna be one of only a dozen people to walk the moon, you want the best damn pictures you can take. But yeah, the camera was expensive. Pretty much everything we send into space is. Here's a Nasa page with details about Panoramic Photography on the Moon Panoramic Camera Rectified Photography on 229 x 1829 mm (9- x 80-In) Film Data Set -- Panoramic Photography NSSDC ID: 1972-096A-06 Mission Name: Apollo 17 Command and Service Module (CSM) Principal Investigator: Dr. Frederick J. Doyle -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Description The purpose of the panoramic camera photography experiment was to obtain high-resolution panoramic photographs with stereoscopic and monoscopic coverage of the lunar surface. These photographs will aid the principal investigators of other scientific instrument module (SIM) experiments in correlating their sensor data with data on the lunar surface. The camera, which has a 24-in. (610-mm) focal length, provided 1- to 2-m resolution from an orbital altitude of 110 km. The camera had four main components: (1) a roll frame assembly that rotated continuously in the cross-track scan direction, (2) a gimbal assembly that tilted fore and aft to provide stereo coverage and forward motion compensation (fmc), (3) the main frame, and (4) a gaseous nitrogen (GN2) pressure vessel assembly. The optics system, camera/film drive and control system, and film cassette completed the camera system. The camera system was mounted in the CSM SIM bay between the two SIM shelves. It was stored with the lens inward to protect it from contamination sources. The photography was automatic, but the crewmen could activate, deactivate, and control the camera power and operational modes. A crewman retrieved the cassette with the pan camera photography from the SIM bay on an EVA during transearth coast. About 1500 photographs of good quality were obtained. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discipline Planetary Science: Geology and Geophysics Personnel Information Edited March 5, 2007 by Limbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limbo Posted March 5, 2007 Author Share Posted March 5, 2007 Another piece of the puzzle... Look at the first negative http://www.limbostreet.com/moon/moon01.jpg and look at this panoramic directly from NASA: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-362/p36.jpg Apparently, this is what I own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwwmwww Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 What is that green X on your negative? Or is that something on your curtain? Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limbo Posted March 6, 2007 Author Share Posted March 6, 2007 What is that green X on your negative? Or is that something on your curtain? Carl Oh, that was added by me to indicate the relation of the negatives to each other. It is the same spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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