Published 19:53 IST, March 2nd 2020
NASA video shows Moon's 'stunning' view from the perspective of Apollo 13's astronauts
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released a video of the moon from the perspective of the astronauts on the aborted Apollo 13 mission.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently released a video of the Moon from the perspective of the astronauts on the aborted Apollo 13 mission. The administration made the video in 4K resolution using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is a robotic NASA spacecraft that orbits the Moon. In the video, NASA even mentions that the astronauts were in darkness for eight minutes when they were between Earthset and Sunrise until the lunar terrain emerged.
While sharing the video on YouTube as well, NASA said that the “video uses data gathered from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft to recreate some of the stunning views of the Moon that the Apollo 13 astronauts saw on their perilous journey around the farside in 1970”.
It further added, “These visualizations, in 4K resolution, depict many different views of the lunar surface, starting with Earthset and Sunrise and concluding with the time Apollo 13 reestablished radio contact with Mission Control. Also depicted is the path of the free return trajectory around the Moon, and a continuous view of the Moon throughout that path”.
In the video, the space agency also showed parts of the Moon for over a minute while the music played in the background. After a while, one can see Earth and NASA said that is when Apollo 13 re-established radio contact with Mission Control. In the end, one can see the trajectory the astronauts took around the moon to get home safely.
'Pale blue dot'
While NASA released the 'iconic' video of the Moon, last month, the space agency also celebrated the 30th anniversary of the 'pale blue dot' image to commemorate the incredible capture with a release of the remastered image of Earth. The NASA Voyager had taken an image of Earth from four billion miles away as a 'Valentine's gift' on February 14, 1990.
However, this year NASA not only recalled the 'spectacular shot' but also remembered Carl Sagan, the prominent planetary scientist who was one of the members of the Voyager imaging team who had the original idea to use the Voyager's cameras to image the Earth in 1981 which later followed the mission's encounter with Saturn. He later said about the famous 'pale blue dot' that “that is home. that is us”.
Updated 19:53 IST, March 2nd 2020