elliottp
20.06.2021 5:42:21
“Spacecraft 107, alias ‘Apollo 11’ alias ‘Columbia,” he wrote on a panel in the equipment bay. “The best ship to come down the line. God bless her. Michael Collins CMP.”
See full version: What Was the Apollo 11 Spacecraft Like? Climb Inside in 3D
“Spacecraft 107, alias ‘Apollo 11’ alias ‘Columbia,” he wrote on a panel in the equipment bay. “The best ship to come down the line. God bless her. Michael Collins CMP.”
But it was a magnificent ship too—none more so than the Apollo that got the numeral 11. That, of course, is the one that carried Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin out to the moon for history’s first lunar landing, 50 years ago this month. The spacecraft has spent most of the years since on display, encased in a protective plastic shell at the Smithsonian Institution’s national Air and Space Museum, affording a look inside through its windows and open hatch, but providing no real sense of what it was like to be inside. Now that’s being remedied, thanks to a 3D experience you can try here, created by the Smithsonian and its collaborator Autodesk, a company that specializes in cloud-based 3D design.
And there is, most evocatively, a tribute written by Collins, the command module pilot—or CMP—who stayed aboard Columbia while Armstrong and Aldrin flew off in the lunar module Eagle to land in the Sea of Tranquility. The two moonwalkers were destined to become history’s headliners on this particular mission, while Collins would always be thought of as something of a supporting player. Still he flew this ship well and he flew it with care and he left behind some words that show that.
T here wasn’t much glamour in an Apollo command module. The ship was little more than an 11-ft (3.3 m) tall conical capsule that served as home to a trio of astronauts for most of their trip to and from the moon. It had a habitable volume of just 210 cubic ft. (5.9 cu. m), which is like packing three grown men in a minivan for history’s longest road trip .
The detail captured by this painstaking work is both extraordinary and immersive. There is the sweeping array of switches, indicator, breakers and knobs that fill the wraparound instrument panel—with their names and functions readily readable. There is the lower equipment bay beneath the seats, where the navigational sextant and computer were located. There are the astronauts’ cloth and canvas couches and the five windows through which they first glimpsed the moon and the closed tunnel in the nose of the spacecraft that once connected to the lunar lander. more
And, as with so many places humans go and things they touch, there is graffiti: a calendar indicating every day the mission flew—July 16 through July 24, 1969. There are random numbers scribbled on the bulkhead, as one or the other of the astronauts, without a flight plan or scrap of paper handy, jotted down some coordinates Houston read up to them.
Experts are particularly interested in the Melckmeyt for multiple reasons: It is the oldest known and identified shipwreck in Icelandic waters, and it offers a rare example of a flute ship—vessels that once filled the Baltic Sea and were “the backbone of the wealth of the Netherlands,” McCarthy tells Schultz. “You see them in a lot of paintings, but actually finding intact shipwrecks of the type is quite rare.” [links]
John McCarthy, a maritime archaeologist at Australia’s Flinders University who created the digital model, tells Atlas Obscura’s Isaac Schultz that the VR experience is best described as “2.5-D.” Showcasing the ship in 3D would have required a more powerful computer, thus making the project accessible to fewer people. [links]
Maritime archaeologists from the National Museum of Iceland first investigated the site of the disaster in 1993. Kevin Martin, a researcher at the University of Iceland, and colleagues from the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands conducted a more detailed survey of the wreckage in 2016, making high-resolution scans later used to create the VR experience. more
Users explore the ship as a diver, clicking and dragging to move around the archaeological site. The three-minute video begins by panning over the Melckmeyt’s ruins as seen today; labels offer identifying details on various parts of the ship. Then, the scene pivots to a reconstruction of what the Melckmeyt, a type of Dutch vessel known as a flute, might have looked like when it landed on the sea floor in 1659. Keep an eye out for a reproduction of Johannes Vermeer’s “The Milkmaid,” which appears on the similarly named ship’s stern at minute 1:58. more
Those in Iceland can stop by the Reykjavik Maritime Museum to tour the Melckmeyt (Dutch for “milkmaid”) with a VR headset. Individuals further afield can use a VR headset, computer or smartphone to experience the wreckage via an interactive YouTube video.
According to a 2013 study led by archaeologist Nina Linde Jaspers, a Danish merchant hired the Melckmeyt to ferry goods between his home country and Iceland. The ship had strong ties to the Netherlands: It was likely built in the country and was captained by a Dutchman who operated with financial support from a Dutch merchant family. This should have barred the Melckmeyt from Icelandic waters, but as Jaspers explains, Danish oversight of the trade monopoly was not particularly rigid. Trellund is said to have sailed the ship into Iceland under a Danish flag, presumably to avoid any unwanted attention.
One of Korea’s most popular museums can be visited through Google’s virtual tour , which takes you through six floors of both Korean and international contemporary art.
Most visitors are drawn to the Yosemite Valley by the stunning scenery, imposing cliffs and spectacular waterfalls, and now you can also enjoy them virtually . here
The second exhibit is a collection of works by Dutch Baroque painter Johannes Vermeer.
Take a look at twenty-six virtual exhibits and over 200,000 documented works to learn about almost any era in history, including cibilizations like the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Persianns, Asian art, Medieval art, and all the way to contemporary art. more
Despite the level of access afforded by the online portal, many key facts regarding the wrecks remain unclear. As BOEM points out, Monterrey A, a wooden-hulled, copper-sheathed sailing ship equipped with at least five cannons and crates of muskets, could have been a pirate ship, a privateer, a military vessel or even a heavily defended merchant. Monterrey B, on the other hand, was carrying a trove of animal hides and unidentified white blocks that could have been cattle fat used for making candles, tree sap used in varnish or natural rubber. Based on pottery found at the site of the wreck, researchers suspect Monterrey B was sailing from Mexico to a still-unknown port. The largest of the three Monterrey wrecks, C, sustained the most damage, breaking its rudder upon impact with the seafloor. [links]
Given the Monterrey Shipwrecks’ remote resting place, it is impossible for divers to explore them using scuba gear. But thanks to surveys conducted with the help of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), maritime aficionados and amateurs alike can now explore the three wrecks—as well as two more known as the 15377 and Blake Ridge shipwrecks—from the comfort of their own homes.
Writing for the Miami Herald, Charles Duncan reports that the virtual reality system is so advanced that users can discern minute details such as the Blake Ridge’s anchor chain and a stoneware jug lying amidst the wreckage. By touring both 3-D models and high-resolution photographs, museum “visitors” can also see the marine creatures and plants that now call the ships home. Virtual divers can also identify artifacts—Atlas Obscura’s Carey cites ceramics, wine jugs, animal hides, muskets and cannons—and design elements indicative of the vessels’ provenance and purpose. here
The final shipwreck, 15377, was substantially larger than the Blake Ridge, measuring 100 feet long and boasting three towering masts. Like the Monterrey A shipwreck, the vessel’s wooden hull was sheathed in copper to protect it from marine organisms. Dating between the 1830s and ‘40s, 15377 appears to have been built for transporting bulk cargo rather than speed.
“With the ROVs we can clearly examine the artifacts in these shipwrecks up close, in thousands of feet of water,” Mike Celata, BOEM Gulf of Mexico regional director, says in a press release. “Through the use of the [3-D] models, we can see each shipwreck site as a whole and monitor changes to it over time.” [links]