A while back we had a thread going about lunar astronauts who got caught with their sun visors raised. A number of folks provided links to images showing faces on the moon. IIRC, during Apollo 17 one of the U.S. broadcast networks (possibly NBC) even did a short feature story on a nightly newscast mentioning that "the man on the moon finally had a face."
Well, I tried to round up a few of the images, if you'd care to have a look.
> A while back we had a thread going about lunar astronauts who got caught > with their sun visors raised. A number of folks provided links to images > showing faces on the moon. IIRC, during Apollo 17 one of the U.S. broadcast > networks (possibly NBC) even did a short feature story on a nightly newscast > mentioning that "the man on the moon finally had a face."
> Well, I tried to round up a few of the images, if you'd care to have a look.
> So far, I have Armstrong, Mitchell, Irwin, Schmitt as the only confirmed > face exposers. Any others?
> JW
I remember one quick shot during Apollo 17 when Gene Cernan grabbed the camera to brush the lens, and when he pulled it over to point straight at him, his visor was up. After he brushed the lens, you could see his lips form the words "How's that?" and then he smiled.
> I remember one quick shot during Apollo 17 when Gene Cernan grabbed the > camera to brush the lens, and when he pulled it over to point straight at > him, his visor was up. After he brushed the lens, you could see his lips > form the words "How's that?" and then he smiled.
> I remember one quick shot during Apollo 17 when Gene Cernan grabbed the > camera to brush the lens, and when he pulled it over to point straight at > him, his visor was up. After he brushed the lens, you could see his lips > form the words "How's that?" and then he smiled.
Is this the one where he at one point apparently tried to "blow" the dust off the lense?
> > I remember one quick shot during Apollo 17 when Gene Cernan grabbed the > > camera to brush the lens, and when he pulled it over to point straight at > > him, his visor was up. After he brushed the lens, you could see his lips > > form the words "How's that?" and then he smiled.
> Is this the one where he at one point apparently tried to "blow" the dust > off the lense?
> Shame on me, I really need to go back and revisit the Journal more often. > Thanks for a superb tip, Adam!
> JW
> "Adam Bootle" <a...@bootle32.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message > news:9po4pm$aun$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk... > > Try a hi-res image of Aldrin saluting the US flag. If you look you will > see > > him looking to his left at Neil with the camera, not at the flag.
I also think that at times, early in the EVA after they switched lenses, you can see Aldrin's head (sort of) in the B&W TV transmission. It looks to me like his visor's up, which would make sense 'cause he's working in the LM shadow.
Yes! That is exactly the portion of the broadcast I was thinking of. While Buzz's whole face is never clearly visible, there is a moment near the end of the clip you linked to where you can clearly see Buzz's right eye looking directly at the camera. This is also the only set of shots in the entire collection of video from the moon where you can see how the light from the surface refracts in the clear helmet.
"...the "Snoopy Cap"...was so-named after the famous "Peanuts" cartoon beagle because it resembled the World War I flying helmet Snoopy wore when pretending to be a flying ace of that conflict."
I had thought that the name came from the fact that Snoopy had a white head and big black ears on both sides, like the cap.
The flying helmet from the comic strip was typically colored brown, among other differences.
> A while back we had a thread going about lunar astronauts who got caught > with their sun visors raised. A number of folks provided links to images > showing faces on the moon. IIRC, during Apollo 17 one of the U.S. broadcast > networks (possibly NBC) even did a short feature story on a nightly newscast > mentioning that "the man on the moon finally had a face."
> Well, I tried to round up a few of the images, if you'd care to have a look.
> So far, I have Armstrong, Mitchell, Irwin, Schmitt as the only confirmed > face exposers. Any others?
OK -- I just got the Apogee Books Mission Report series entry for Apollo 15 (labeled Volume I, I notice with interest). I was just watching one the .mpg movies of the beginning of EVA-1, and noticed that after Dave Scott went up the ladder to help talk Irwin through the hatch, he came down with his visor up. You get a brief glimpse of his face and snoopy helmet; after he turns around and heads back out of the LM's shadow, he stops for a moment and, even though his back is to the camera, you can see that he's stopped to lower his visor.
Today there are comm caps with brown sides. But I believe they came well after the nickname was established. I was able to find one source that confirms the etymology as I related it:
"I would also like to mention that the cap worn under the space helmets were called the "Snoopy Cap," because it resembles Snoopy's head. White with black sides."
So I would guess that the brown caps came along some time in the 80's.
When flying T-38s, astronauts wore skull caps under their helmets to absorb sweat. These caps didn't have any funky nickname that I'm aware of. Now if they were colored dramatically like the Apollo comm caps, maybe they would have had a nickname too.
My comment was based on a more generic use of the term for any aviation softcap. I'm certainly happy to include the color scheme as a source for the nickname, based on the referenced "Warm puppy diary" Snoopyologist source.
> "I would also like to mention that the cap worn under the space > helmets were called the "Snoopy Cap," because it resembles Snoopy's > head. White with black sides."
> So I would guess that the brown caps came along some time in the 80's.
The communication carrier was developed by ILC Dover after the Apollo 1 fire, and was made from teflon fabric, so as to be fireproof.
The sides are an unbleached teflon, being a deep brown "coffee" colour. The centre "white" section is an elasticized fabric. The brown is deep enough to appear black in many multi-generational photographs, and varied slightly from cap to cap, as the colour was determined by heat treatment during fabric manufacture, rather than a dye.
The fabric portion of the communication carrier, nicknamed "snoopy cap", has remained relatively unchanged since 1967, though STS EVAs often use a type based on a different design that is all white.
> I also think that at times, early in the EVA after they switched lenses, you > can see Aldrin's head (sort of) in the B&W TV transmission. It looks to me > like his visor's up, which would make sense 'cause he's working in the LM > shadow.
> > So I would guess that the brown caps came along some time in the 80's.
> The communication carrier was developed by ILC Dover after the Apollo 1 > fire, and was made from teflon fabric, so as to be fireproof.
> The sides are an unbleached teflon, being a deep brown "coffee" colour. > The centre "white" section is an elasticized fabric. The brown is deep > enough to appear black in many multi-generational photographs, and > varied slightly from cap to cap, as the colour was determined by heat > treatment during fabric manufacture, rather than a dye.
> The fabric portion of the communication carrier, nicknamed "snoopy cap", > has remained relatively unchanged since 1967, though STS EVAs often use > a type based on a different design that is all white.
Somewhere (on Kipp Teague's Apollo Archives site, if I'm not mistaken) are pictures of the Stafford crew testing CM-014 using the newer AL7 suits (the ones with the bubble helmets). In those pictures, the A7L suits are blue (the color of the garment underneath the white integral micrometeoroid layer) and the Snoopy hats are entirely a mid-toned brown or tan. Of course, this was before the Fire and the Beta cloth that became mandated in its aftermath...
There's a snoopy cap for sale at Superior's next auction. You can see the item at <http://www.superior-e-auctions.com/prod.cgi?mode=3&it=0636>, and I would say that is definitely brown... -- "Managing senior programmers is | Justin Wigg - Hobart, AUSTRALIA like herding cats." - Dave Platt | Reply: justinw...@yahoo.com
