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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 2h

(And if you think it's amazing they had a whole rocket just to check out the ground systems, they had another one, the dynamic test vehicle, that was built literally just so they could put it inside a huge building and shake it to check structural integrity!)

Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 2h

This rocket was used to prove out the vertical assembly building, the crawler transporter that carried the rocket with its launch platform and umbilical tower to the launch pad, the mobile service structure and all the associated fuelling and other facilities. And it was never to fly.

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 2h

Human Spaceflight: 25 May 1966. A milestone for the Apollo programme as the Saturn V SA-500F facilities checkout vehicle is rolled out to the launchpad. This rocket was never intended to fly and was built purely to checkout the ground equipment. It's identifiable by its unique paint scheme.

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Reposted by Jason Thompson

Robots In Your Eyes @robotsinyoureyes.bsky.social · 2h

This wasn't our first visit to Third Earth to check on the thundery felines. Way back in episode 42 we saw them escape their doomed planet.

open.spotify.com/episode/3DtU...

open.spotify.com

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Reposted by Jason Thompson

Robots In Your Eyes @robotsinyoureyes.bsky.social · 2h

Still plenty of time to catch up on the latest episode with @docoho44.bsky.social. And while you're at it check out his amazing collection of podcasts, including the legendary 'Hamster with a Blunt Penknife' series. As we celebrate 100 episodes, so he recently celebrated 1000!

Robots In Your Eyes @robotsinyoureyes.bsky.social · 3d

✨New episode!✨

Special guest Joe Ford @docoho44.bsky.social joins us for our 🌟100th episode🌟 to talk about a fond memory from his childhood, Thundercats Ho! The Movie. Action, adventure, padding and dreadful cliffhangers! What more could you want?!

open.spotify.com/episode/3LXP...

open.spotify.com

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 12h

Construction begins tomorrow, right?

Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 1d

This! Volume is, by definition, audio! Just crank it to whatever volume works best for you. Fuck numbers and intensity bars and stuff like that, especially since nothing is standardised in presentation anyway. Some of my DVDs and blu-rays I have to crank the volume up so high...

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 1d

Shortly after launch a malfunction of the Atlas launch vehicle caused it to pitch over suddenly, and instead of sending it into orbit the rocket shot the Agena down into the ocean. The planned Gemini launch was acrubbed. A plan B was needed...

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 1d

Human Spaceflight: 17 May 1966. After the problems on Gemini 8, Gemini 9 is intended to carry out the full mission with rendezvous, docking and a spacewalk. The crew board the Gemini and the Atlas Agena lifts off the pad, but things almost immediately go wrong.

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 1d

The 8th in particular, freed from an ongoing TV series and any obligations arising, was amazing. No comic strip panel has ever hit me emotionally as much as Izzy saying ‘I’d like to go home now.’

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 1d

Fake fan! Fake fan! 😂

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 1d

The fact that episodes are/were missing has made the experience of classic Who pre-1975 so much more interesting than if it was all there for us to enjoy. Doesn't mean I don't wish it was all there, of course, but the fact we can get excited about a three second censor clip, well...

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 2d

Human Spaceflight: 01 Apr 1966. NASA announces its largest group of new astronauts yet, with a further 19 swelling the ranks. Dubbed 'the Original Nineteen', roughly half of these new astronauts would fly on Apollo, with the others being involved in Skylab or the shuttle.

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Reposted by Jason Thompson

Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 3d

Human Spaceflight: 16 Mar 1966. NASA's first real 'near miss' in space as astronauts Dave Scott and Neil Armstrong (yes, that Neil Armstrong) fly the Gemini 8 mission, which nearly becomes a disaster due to a malfunction while the spacecraft was out of contact with the ground stations.

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 3d

They splashed down in the pacific, tired but otherwise unharmed. Both astronauts had begun to experience tunnel vision by the time the situation was under control. A few seconds longer and they might have blacked out, and that would have been a disaster. Gemini 8, the first 'near miss' in space.

Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 3d

Realising the problem was with the orbital and attitude manoeuvring thrusters on the rear of the spacecraft, Armstrong shut them down and used the re-entry control system on the nose to stabilise that spacecraft. That meant an immediate termination of the mission per flight rules, so they came home.

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 3d

Believing the problem was with the Agena (which controllers had expressed some concern about earlier) they undocked, but this only made the problem worse. The Gemini began tumbling and rolling, reaching speeds of almost 1 revolution a second!

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 3d

A few hours after launch, Gemini 8 made history by carrying out the first ever docking between two spacecraft, its nose sliding neatly into the docking collar and locking in place. The two craft were now joined. And that's when the trouble started. Soon after docking the craft began to roll....

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 3d

A few hours later Gemini 8 itself lifted off and went into orbit, immediately beginning the manoeuvres necessary to rendezvous and dock with the Agena.

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 3d

The plan was to rendezvous and dock with an Agena target vehicle (the original plan for Gemini 6 that had to be changed when the Agena blew up during luanch). The Agena lifted off first and was tracked successfully to its intended orbit.

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 3d

Human Spaceflight: 16 Mar 1966. NASA's first real 'near miss' in space as astronauts Dave Scott and Neil Armstrong (yes, that Neil Armstrong) fly the Gemini 8 mission, which nearly becomes a disaster due to a malfunction while the spacecraft was out of contact with the ground stations.

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Reposted by Jason Thompson

Robots In Your Eyes @robotsinyoureyes.bsky.social · 3d

A repost for the evening crowd. Still can't believe it's the 100th!

Robots In Your Eyes @robotsinyoureyes.bsky.social · 3d

✨New episode!✨

Special guest Joe Ford @docoho44.bsky.social joins us for our 🌟100th episode🌟 to talk about a fond memory from his childhood, Thundercats Ho! The Movie. Action, adventure, padding and dreadful cliffhangers! What more could you want?!

open.spotify.com/episode/3LXP...

open.spotify.com

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 3d

As I understand it they presented it as a simulation in the movie because they weren't sure it was quite convincing enough to be presented as a thing that happened in the actual story.

Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 3d

The Genesis bit is just a simulation in the movie, yes, but nowhere was it claimed it was the first use of CGI effects to portray an actual event, just that it's the first use of CGI effects in a movie full stop. As far as I know, that's still true regardless of how it's presented in the narrative.

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Jason Thompson @jasonjtt.bsky.social · 3d

I shouted at a Star Trek YouTube video just the other day when they talked about the Genesis effect demo being the first use of CGI effects in a movie but said it was in the ‘first movie’ in 1984! It was 1982 and the movie is literally called ‘Star Trek II’!

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