Author Topic: Missing STS-135/ISS flyaround images from the Orbiter Side (Read 23542 times)

Space Pete · « **on:** 07/26/2011 01:57 pm »

The STS-135 ISS flyaround was conducted one week ago today, and still NASA haven't released the flyaround images (bar the one linked below).

http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/s135e010788.html

Do any NASA people know what's going on - as in, are they going to be released?

I don't imagine that there is a problem with the images (i.e. accidentally deleted as on STS-132), since NASA have already released one, and there's a 50+ hi res photo set in L2 since last week.

Seems as this was the last ever Shuttle ISS flyaround, and given the unique attitude of the ISS during the flyaround, I would have thought that NASA would not want to hold back on releasing them.

Any info would be appreciated. If no-one has any info, I may consider contacting NASA about this - and perhaps some others would be willing to join me?

saturnapollo · « **Reply #1 on:** 07/26/2011 02:08 pm »

Pete

Like yourself I am getting increasingly concerned about the lack of images. And like yourself was considering e-mailing one (or both) of the contacts at the bottom of the HSF page.

Even if we knew that like the Soyuz images they were still on cards inside Atlantis. Even that would be helpful.

Keith

saturnapollo · « **Reply #2 on:** 07/26/2011 04:17 pm »

OK, written to the NASA official in charge of the site.

If I hear anything, I'll let you know.

Keith

Lee Jay · « **Reply #3 on:** 07/26/2011 04:22 pm »

Quote from: Space Pete on 07/26/2011 01:57 pm

(i.e. accidentally deleted as on STS-132)

I didn't hear about that. If you delete images off a card, you can still get them all back as long as you didn't write over them.

saturnapollo · « **Reply #4 on:** 07/26/2011 04:34 pm »

OK, an answer from JSC quicker than I thought, but not much information - well, none really.

Mr. McNeill,

The web team does not have insight into what images we may receive or when we will get them. However, we post all images as soon as possible after receipt. Please check back periodically to see if the images in which you are interested have been added to the gallery.

Thanks,

The JSC PAO Web Team

rdale · « **Reply #5 on:** 07/26/2011 04:45 pm »

So instead of checking with their sources, they punt...

Wait - what icon shows the "fake schocked" look?

Space Pete · « **Reply #6 on:** 07/26/2011 05:06 pm »

Quote from: saturnapollo on 07/26/2011 04:34 pm

The web team does not have insight into what images we may receive or when we will get them. However, we post all images as soon as possible after receipt. Please check back periodically to see if the images in which you are interested have been added to the gallery.

Hmm, very interesting indeed. So, if this is to be believed, then the problem is not with that PAOs but with whoever sends the images to the PAOs, which I assume is the SSP?

Thanks for this, Keith.

Jason1701 · « **Reply #7 on:** 07/26/2011 05:33 pm »

I suppose this time there aren't any rumors about a monetary exchange with the Russians.

arkaska · « **Reply #8 on:** 07/26/2011 05:38 pm »

Quote from: Space Pete on 07/26/2011 05:06 pm

Quote from: saturnapollo on 07/26/2011 04:34 pm
The web team does not have insight into what images we may receive or when we will get them. However, we post all images as soon as possible after receipt. Please check back periodically to see if the images in which you are interested have been added to the gallery.

Hmm, very interesting indeed. So, if this is to be believed, then the problem is not with that PAOs but with whoever sends the images to the PAOs, which I assume is the SSP?

I says the web team does not have insight. I guess they get the images for another department within PAO and they are still waiting on images from them.

saturnapollo · « **Reply #9 on:** 07/26/2011 05:39 pm »

Quote

I suppose this time there aren't any rumors about a monetary exchange with the Russians.

No but I did come across stuff on the net about a UFO being sighted during the undocking and that apparently NASA was restricting the video.

It was very obviously the Moon!!!!

Keith

Namechange User · « **Reply #10 on:** 07/26/2011 05:41 pm »

Quote from: Jason1701 on 07/26/2011 05:33 pm

I suppose this time there aren't any rumors about a monetary exchange with the Russians.

Smug attitude aside, perhaps you are not aware of everything and when rumor is no longer rumor. That's all I will say.

This event was done on an American spacecraft with American equipment. Perhaps the reason for the delay this time is that people got layed off....

saturnapollo · « **Reply #11 on:** 07/26/2011 05:48 pm »

Quote

Perhaps the reason for the delay this time is that people got layed off....

Presumably as the the photos are of more interest to the space station programme, rather than the shuttle programme, someone will be taking care of them.

Keith

rdale · « **Reply #12 on:** 07/26/2011 07:12 pm »

Quote from: OV-106 on 07/26/2011 05:41 pm

This event was done on an American spacecraft with American equipment. Perhaps the reason for the delay this time is that people got layed off....

I thought the images were stored on an internal NASA server shortly after download... Are you saying that they potentially laid off employees responsible for this before the mission even ended? I've seen other images post-undock so that doesn't seem like a valid reason.

Jason1701 · « **Reply #13 on:** 07/26/2011 09:23 pm »

Quote from: OV-106 on 07/26/2011 05:41 pm

Quote from: Jason1701 on 07/26/2011 05:33 pm
I suppose this time there aren't any rumors about a monetary exchange with the Russians.

Smug attitude aside, perhaps you are not aware of everything and when rumor is no longer rumor. That's all I will say.

Of course I'm not aware; I'm not an insider like some. I'd like to be made aware if that's allowed.

robertross · « **Reply #14 on:** 07/26/2011 11:52 pm »

Quote from: rdale on 07/26/2011 07:12 pm

Quote from: OV-106 on 07/26/2011 05:41 pm
This event was done on an American spacecraft with American equipment. Perhaps the reason for the delay this time is that people got layed off....

I thought the images were stored on an internal NASA server shortly after download... Are you saying that they potentially laid off employees responsible for this before the mission even ended? I've seen other images post-undock so that doesn't seem like a valid reason.

Somewhere in all the posts on the site, possibly in STS-135 coverage, it was mentioned that the image editing & release section of NASA was downsized significantly, so what he's saying is correct: they simply laid people off.

Not a great way to keep up the interest in spaceflight by cutting people at the knees...

(sorry, but this nightmare at NASA is so senseless, and it ticks me off to no end).

saturnapollo · « **Reply #15 on:** 07/27/2011 12:04 am »

Sorry, but that really doesn't make much sense to me, as they released images of Atlantis at undocking, one of the ISS, lots of the re-entry and a stack of landing photos, adding to these a few more every day for a few days after the mission.

So plenty of photography has made it to the shuttle gallery in the two weeks since undocking.

Keith

rdale · « **Reply #16 on:** 07/27/2011 12:21 am »

Quote from: robertross on 07/26/2011 11:52 pm

Somewhere in all the posts on the site, possibly in STS-135 coverage, it was mentioned that the image editing & release section of NASA was downsized significantly, so what he's saying is correct: they simply laid people off.

I'm not saying that can't be the case - but how did they release other images during and after undock if they laid the people off who do that? Something doesn't fit the timeline

TJL · « **Reply #17 on:** 07/27/2011 12:28 am »

Wow...just one photo of ISS during undocking...S135-E-010788(19 July 2011).

And I believe only 3 photos of shuttle undocking...strange!

Jorge · « **Reply #18 on:** 07/27/2011 05:55 am »

On the JSC internal server, I see 222 flyaround images, but just five show the entire station (like the one on the public server), and all five are similar to each other. The other 217 flyaround images are extreme closeups of parts of ISS taken with long lenses. Previous flights had similar numbers of closeups but far more images of the entire station.

This makes sense, especially compared to the STS-134 Soyuz images. The 134 images were entirely for PR purposes so Paolo's procedures were to take the shots with a wide lens that would show off the shuttle/ISS stack to its best visual advantage. The 135 flyaround with the ISS yaw was requested by the Imagery Science group and they had a lot of specific targets in mind on the sides of ISS that had never been photographed in high-resolution by the previous in-plane flyarounds. So these are really engineering photos, like the RPM images.

Previous flyarounds also had such images, but because those shuttle crews had 6-7 people, they could devote one photographer to engineering images and another to pretty pictures. The 135 crew only had four people, three of whom were working the flyaround, so they only had one photographer and that person had to concentrate on the engineering photos. JSC PAO might not consider them a high priority to put on the public server since they're not as "photogenic." Here the lack of manpower may be a factor: they really don't have the people to do this stuff in parallel any more; the remaining people need to prioritize their work and do it serially. So I would expect some of the engineering images to trickle out as they get time to work them.

Mind you, I'm speculating on the PAO side of things. I can speak with some authority on the rest, though, since I was involved with the imagery planning for both the STS-134 Soyuz flyabout and the STS-135 shuttle flyaround.

saturnapollo · « **Reply #19 on:** 07/27/2011 08:45 am »

So they do exist!!

I would be more than delighted with the extreme closeup images. They are actually more useful to me than long range stuff!

But that is a very good point - fewer crewmembers to actually take the photos.

Keith