Onboard Diary

Moonbase Alpha, the video game from NASA

Audi Mag

Charlie Burton, who has already reviewed us in Wired UK, is now doing a whole report for Audi Magazine UK , and they sent us a photographer from London for the photo session.

He is Sam Barker , and this is how Fuencarral looked this morning. :)

Destination: the Moon (that's how Russia saw it in 1955)

A great article in English Russia about how a Russian artist's view on the Soviets conquering the Moon in 1975... in 1955.

Pay attention to the Meliesque and  Lang-like details, such as the launching from a launch pad on the Urals, the diving helmets, the rocket's inner space... not to miss. 

Soviet space emblems in the cosmos

 Gabriel García, a follower of the project and a writer in the very interesting Zemiorka (a blog about astronautics and cosmonautics since, quoting their own words, 'anything can be related, in some way, to Sputnik') sends us to the link for one of the articles about the Soviet emblems carried by the various USSR Space missions. They were made of titanium, which is resistant to hostile atmospheres such as that of Venus, interestingly, 'one of the planets wich were privileged by the Soviet space program'. 

Russian films to sink a battleship

We're flipping out after finding the birubirFilm channel on Youtube, This channel's full of Russian cinema, both modern and from the Soviet era. You can find films ranging from Andrei Tarkovsky's cult ones to great classics such us The Irony Of Fate. Also, there's plenty of animation cinema and hard-to-find rarities; all of them with English subtitles (they're also available on Veoh).


The truth is that such an amount of materials can be overwhelming at first sight, and it's hard to know where to start, so... do you feel like recommending your favourite Russian films in 'comments'?

Lost in Space

Some people believe that somewhere out in the vast darkness of Space, at about 15,000 million kilometres from the Sun, the first human being is about to cross the border of our Solar System to interstellar space. His body, perfectly preserved, is frozen at -270ºC. His little capsule's been silently drifting away from Earth at 29,000km/h for the past 45 years. He's the original lost cosmonaut whose spaceship ascended but, instead of descending afterwards, it simply kept following its course.


It's the latest fashion in Cold War legends: that in the origin of the Space era (in the late 50s and during the 60s), the Soviet Union had two Space programs; one of them was public and the other one was 'dark' and, in this one, they carried out much riskier missions, even suicidal. It was assumed that the Russia's dark operations, had they ever existed, would be kept a secret forever.

Lost in Space is an article compiling some of the stories about cosmonauts lost in Space during the first years of the Space Race. The connecting thread is the story of Achille and Giovanni Judica-Cordiglia, two Italian brothers whose peculiar hobby was to intercept radio transmissions from Soviet spaceship. The brothers claim having been able to record, more than once, the last moments of the Soviet cosmonauts who died during failed missions.

"Come in... come in... come in... Listen! Come in! Talk to me! I am hot! I am hot! Come in! What? Forty-five? What? Fifty? Yes. Yes, yes, breathing. Oxygen, oxygen... I am hot. This... isn't this dangerous?"

Today we know that the brothers were being watched by the KGB. It was probably their big shot to fame (after appearing on the Fiera di Sogni contest, where they won the opportunity of visiting the NASA) what saved their lives. Nearly half a century afterwards, in a completely different context, a KGB agent in charge of the brothers agrees to being interviewed anonymously.

"They had to be dealt with - an accident perhaps - but then that TV programme happened and they were famous. That saved their lives. I was glad; they were good kids."

Also horrifying are the statements by Mikhail Rudenko (a retired aerospace engineer), in which he talks about the suicidal missions undertaken by three cosmonauts between 1957 and 1959, who were simply launched to Space without anything which might enable them to get back into the atmosphere.
 Most of the statements about the obscure beginnings of the Space Race are not backed by any source. However, it's notorious the ability with which the Soviet Uniot has hidden the existence of certain facts or people. They've simply been erased from History. Although it may remind you of the ineffable Ivan Istochnikov case, the story of cosmonaut Grigoriy Nelyubov -a founding member of th Sochi Six who was 'erased'- is the perfect example.



Engineer and journalist Jim Osberg -famous for his sceptical view on conspiracy theories- has written two interesting articles in which he presents the reasons why he doesn't believe the Judica-Cordiglia story, based on the lack of evidence and some illogical facts. You can read them here and here  (PDF, 116KB y 48KB).

Fernando Bovaira

Fernando Bovaira is the producer of all Amenábar's films.

       .... and in this report on La 2 RTVE, in minute 4:49, he talks about us.But he doesn't know it :P

Space Race Chronologies

Thanks to our indescribable friends from Microsiervos, we've found this very decorative poster, by the Visual Aid guys:

The problem? Image resolution is quite poor... As usual, Wikipedia came to our rescue:

Although if you find so much detail a bit confusing, this other chronology, available on A Single Pixel and designed with TimeFlyer, will surely be much more precise:

Greetings from Siberia!

Anything that can possibly go wrong, does.

-- Murphy's Law

If a series of events can go wrong, they will do so in the worst possible sequence.

-- Murphy's Extended Law

Smile. Tomorrow can be worse.

-- Murphy's motto

Here we are. The weather outside is frightful... and we don't have heating.

Project SpaceDiver... or how we learned to stop worrying and fall down to the Earth in 10 minutes

Through the Microsiervos website, we've heard of an interesting initiative originally published on Wired Science. It seems that the company Orbital Outfitters -which does development and construction of materials to be used in outer space- has its mind set on designing a new astronaut costume, which would allow jumping off and landing safely (and sound?) from a mere 36,500 metres height at least.

 

For what we've been told, the aim of the project isn't to break a record but to allow the evacuation of special suborbital spaceships in case of an emergency. And the thing is that with a leap from such an altitude, the secret ingredient is not in the sauce... but in the costume. Main problems? Lack of pressure and oxygen, temperature, friction... and the huge speed  you can reach during the fall: several thousands of kilometres per hour (blimey!) 

The costume shall include, among other things, the following requirements:

• Give vital support over the height of 150 km for 15 minutes
• Be light (less than 20Kg in weight)
• Allow parachute use 
• Offer free mobility

Ok, like we said: let's see who's the fearless tough guy who'd do the inaugural test to see if it works :^)

Fly me to the Moon... and let me take pictures among the stars

 

We discovered a few days ago (via Alt1040, an endless source of great materials for all those photography, science and technology lovers) a terrific piece of news. The photograph considered by many journalist at the time to be 'this century's image',  Earth as seen from the Moon, has been restored.

Thanks to the technological resources and tools available nowadays, the picture (originally taken on August, the 23rd 1966) has undergone drastic and evident improvement. This is all part of a project started 20 years ago by Nancy Evans, which was completed a little bit more than a year ago by Dennis Wingo and Keith Cowing from Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project, which belongs to our beloved NASA.

The increase in quality seems incredible, compared to the original image... Besides the fact that this other image, taken in colour 8 years later, has ended up being better known. Which one do you choose? 

A trainee's diary

Well yeah, the title sounds like one from a porn film. But no.

The thing is that a couple of months ago we were joined by Alicia, who is doing the training programme of the Instituto Puerta Bonita. And we -because we're a little mean- suggested a challenge:

To create, during the four months she was going to be with us, her own blog with weekly videos in which she would tell her experience. She'd be in charge of promoting them, increasing visits, recording, producing and posting the videos... That is, what any creator should know how to do nowadays. ;)

El trato era que nosotros le haríamos un post, y nada más. Así que... a partir de ahora queda completamente a su suerte. Y a vuestro criterio :P

The deal was that we would write a post and nothing else. So... from now onwards it all depends on her. And on your judgment :P

Enjoy:
http://mensajesdesdelaluna.blogspot.com/

The proof of her videos is in the pudding:

"To Infinity... and beyond!" GigaGalaxy Zoom

(Above:The Milky Way)

Through 3 gigantic images, the GigaGalaxy Zoom project reveals, in the first place, a sight of the night sky at first glance from one of the areas with the highest level of darkness at night: the Atacama dessert, in Chile. From this first image, you can zoom in on an area of the Milky Way. And after this, finally, we have the possibility of going even further and immersing into the details of the nebula, as if we were looking at it with a professional telescope.

In this article by Javier Pedreira, published in Microsiervos, we have a more thorough summary of what you can find in the official website and in the three pictures:

The first picture, taken by Serge Brunier, gathers in 800 million pixels a first sight of the night sky, but from the privileged observatories of La Silla and El Paranla.

The second, created by Stéphane Guisard, gathers in 340 million pixels the central part of our galaxy, from the Sagittarius constellation to Scorpio.

The third picture shows only a degree and a half of a sky's square, centred on the Lagoon Nebula, just the way professional astronomers see it.

This project has been developed for the celebration of The International Astronomy Year 2009 and the images have been taken from the observatories of La Silla and Paranal.

 

(Above: The Lagoon Nebula)

As specified in the official website:

The project reveals three amazing, ultra-high-resolution images of the night sky that online stargazers can zoom in on and explore in an incredible level of detail.

The GigaGalaxy Zoom project thus illustrates the vision of IYA2009, which is to help people rediscover their place in the Universe through the day- and night-time sky.

In the official GigaGalaxy Zoom website you can not only have access to the afore-mentioned pictures and travel around Space through them, but you can download them too.

Undoubtedly, it's worth having a look (or many) at them. They're amazing.

 

 

Ubiquity

Appart from Power to the Píxel (London), we are exposing our project in Invesnova, the Innovative Companies Forum. But what are we doing here, you wonder?

What are we talking about? You have it right here, in a Power Point document!

(Yes, it's true, that's 25 MB. A lighter version will be ready very soon.)

Follow it on Twitter :)

 

Disaster Speech

 William Safire has recently passed away at the age of  79. A famous writer and conservative columnist of the New York Times, he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1978.

In 1955, after working as a radio and television producer, he became part of the Republican Party's PR department. After overcoming the victory drought of the early and mid 60s, he became one the speech writers on Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew's service in 1968.

Via Alt1040, we find out about the speech he wrote for Nixon should disaster have occurred during the Apollo 11 mission, during which men stepped on the Moon for the first time in History (July the 21st, 1969). It is priceless...

To H. R. Haldeman, from Bill Safire. July 18, 1969.

IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER:

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.

PRIOR TO THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT:

The president should telephone each of the widows-to-be.

AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT, AT POINT WHEN NASA ENDS COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MEN:

A clergyman should adopt the same procedure as a burial at sea, commending their souls to "the deepest of the deep", concluding with the Lord's Prayer.

Print it, frame it and put ir up your bathroom wall:

'We could have saved it, but we didn't'

Over a week ago, the world premiere of The Age of Stupid took place. The film is one of the biggest international examples of crowdfunding applied to film making. This full-length documentary, directed by Franny Armstrong, was possible thanks to the investment of its 223 producers and has been shown in over 500 cinemas distributed all over the world. This is a true precedent for the films following this funding model. In fact, you can find a guide to crowd fund your film in the website: How To Crowd Fund Your Film.
 
The film reflects on today's passive attitude towards the imminent change in our climate from the perspective of an archiver (Pete Postlethwaite) who lives in the year 2055 in a devastated world, watching images of our time and asking why nobody did anything to avoid this tragedy. If you missed the premiere, don't worry, the film is available for free for a month, so you can watch online here.
 
First impressions are being very positive, even if the majority of them praise the market model over the film contents. Jon Reiss brilliantly explains this in his article The Age of Stupid Is the Future of Film.
 
 

Even though it's about the future of humanity; this film is equally or even more important for representing the future of Cinema, of film culture and its marketing and distribution.

Riot Cinema Collective was at the Madrid premiere and our colleague Gabriela tells us her impressions too:
 

Since we found out about the existence of The Age of Stupid, the film became a wonderful role model for the team of Cosmonaut. The way in which the project was presented in their website, the thermometers which they used to represent what they had achieved and what they had left, the generosity in wanting to share with the audience and with other film makers how to carry out similar initiatives, the amount of people who they got to move and motivated to participate in the project. All this wasn't but inspiring us. After all, The Age of Stupid, an indie documentary, had succeeded in doing what only Hollywood-endorsed films -and mainly, the giant marketing engines which normally accompany them- had achieved: a worldwide premiere in cinemas on the same day.
 
It wasn't necessary to go that far: the documentary had already achieved what any indie film today which adventures into the use of alternative production and distribution is longing for: to involve and move its audience and transmit this to others at the same time. Director Franny Armstrong, unintentionally became the best case study of a film maker who successfully achieves to use the new tools and means of communication with which the Internet provides creators, so that their message can have an echo and more impact.
 
What's the problem? Expectations are huge. And the possibility of fulfilling them is so small. I saw the documentary which they presented for The Guardian a day before the premiere and I thought I was about to see a film which would change my life. Maybe I was too naïve, or maybe the documentary wasn't half as good as it promised to be. I know that, just like me, many others felt disappointed. This could be harsh criticism, but it's rather a call to action for all those indie film makers who try to spread their projects through similar scenarios: their films don't rise to the buzz generated around them. This could be a very off-putting start, but I actually think that it's a sensational challenge. The consequence of having a good offer of films is that you create a demanding audience and this can only be a positive thing for the future of cinema.
 
  
Nevertheless, I have to admit that the people behind The Age of Stupid understood or at least, they have made us understand, that showing a film in a cinema isn't only another stop in the traditional chain of film exhibition and distribution. Film projections are to film makers what concerts are to musicians: the collective enjoyment of something extraordinary and unique. The new means of communication, in spite of what many people think, aren't fighting with films in cinemas, they won't make these disappear. On the contrary, they will force the experience of going to the cinema to be revaluated, the experience of seeing a film in a theatre full of strangers, a theatre in the dark where we are all seeing the same thing but the feelings caused in each one of us are unique and unrepeatable.
 
Being a film maker today is incredibly exciting. But being a cinema-loving spectator is even more exciting. In a way, The Age of Stupid is a little taste for this. And the truth is, even though it lacks many things, it still tastes really, really good.

 
Definitely, times are changing.
  

Whatever you do, do it right.

My father used to tell me that when I was growing up. He believed that no matter what you did, you had a responsibility to do it as best as possible as an honor to the profession and to your costumers.

That's the reason why I've been writing a lot about media lately. Call it paranoia but I just can't understand why people don't get the importance of start embracing Media Arts.

We are not curing cancer. That's true. But still, as communicators, we have a responsibility. The responsibility to be much more than just great storytellers. To guide our industry towards a better/stronger future.

As it best, this is art serving capitalism as Jeff Goodby always says. We need to begin to re-think what we call media. Start thinking of media as creative both in form and content. As art. That way it will be easier to stop thinking about ads and start thinking in terms of ideas.

It's not really rocket science so if you aren't up for the ride please quit and get a job in a bank or something.

By Anibal Casso via Jorge Cubain.

Why are you a Cosmonaut? Send us your video before the 26th!

As you can see, we are about to have 1000 producers... in just 4 months. 1000 people have already decided that they want to become part of a project which some call 'risky' (we prefer 'brave') :)

We've always wanted to make a video about you, asking you to answer a question which we sometimes even ask ourselves: 'Why did you decide to support a project like Cosmonaut?'

 

What would we love you to do?


It's really very simple: record a video of a few seconds before the 26th and share it with us. You just need to have a Youtube account (or Google, they're joint now).

1)      1) Take a look at our youtube video where we tell you (in 40 seconds!) what do we want you to tell us in your video.

2)      Below it, you can find the option 'Post a video response'. Click on it.

3)      You have the option of uploading your video... or simpler, you can record it instantly!

4)      All this in less than 2 minutes!

The day cinema changed

Precisely these days I've been reading Peter Biskind's wonderful book about the boom of independent cinema in the nineties: Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film.

It's like the second part of another essential: Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.

Two books which tell, in a fascinating way, two convulsed decades in the history of cinema.

Today, 20 years after the beginning of the second decade and 40 after the first one, something has taken place which I'm sure would be the first chapter of a third book: the book which will tell how the Internet changed everything.

Today is the first day of the rest of the decade and we are here, not only as spectators but also as active participants. Risking our necks.

Las horas perdidas does an exceptional chronicle of what has happened. Don't miss it ;)

Space photography: What are you waiting for taking the leap?

Silently, through the summer heat, the first of the material's announcement, called by the Embajada Lomográfica in Spain -LomoSpain-, has become a success: in  'Cosmonaut's dream', over 180 lomographic photographs peer into Cosmonaut's universe from as many points of view as authors there are: poetry, trompe l'oeil pictures, irony and humor... We have loved some of them because of their visual inventiveness and the way in which they transform every day spaces and objects. We have loved others because of the feelings which they recreate... Remember that we'll award the most cosmonautic ones. Tone isn't important, but the topic is! J

Double exposures and mirror plays: Cosmonautics peers into an old theme park through Eugenia+'s interpretations.

Do we still need to remind you why this lomography official announcement is so special?

You still have until the 25^th of October to send your lomographies, to receive prizes and become our official lomographer!

A last-minute tip-off: There's an intrepid female lomographer who has written to us asking for the costumes 'for a couple of photos that you are going to love', promising that 'I will give it back just the way it is or  I'll go to Russia and find another one'. We though... well, Why not? So, if you have that picture in your mind and you need one of these costumes, in hola@elcosmonauta.es we're waiting for your audacity... and your promise of a fed acorn ham should you cause them any harm.