Orbiter Spaceport

Apollo 8 launch highlights, from liftoff to orbit, from HD sources Launched on December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to orbit the Moon.  Some of the original footage was taken by engineering cameras at high frame rates and normally is shown in slow motion. Here it's presented in real speed, but taking advantage of 60 fps video for smother motion.  On the latter part of the ascent, images from Apollo 4 and 6 are used to illustrate stage separation, tower jettison and out the window views. These are also presented at approximate real speed.

Saturn I test flight videos, in real-time and with side-by-side rocket camera views The early Saturn I test flights (Saturn I SA-5 and Saturn I SA-6) are interesting visually because of the on-board camera footage, with good coverage of stage separation. SA-5 tested S-IV second stage ignition and SA-6 carried the first boilerplate Apollo spacecraft into low Earth orbit Since they where test flights, engineers needed images to record what was happening on the vehicle during flight. Most times these on-board cameras would run faster or slower than the standard 24fps film speed. Normally the sequences are shown with no compensation for that, but where I tried to show things in real time. I'm presenting these images in real time and side by side with the more common distant views. The original images come from multiple documentaries and film sources. Sound comes from a real Saturn I launch.

I've uploaded some videos dealing with spaceflight theory. You can find them on this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4LzWgVGYi2sc-KyCITzbTsFUfzFkOMf Or you can view them here: Fly me to the Moon - and back "Fly me to the Moon - and back" is a 1966 NASA documentary that explains the complexity of planning a lunar mission trajectory. Includes mission analysis, mathematical techniques, computers, mission plan, calculations and real-time support for the NASA Mission Control. Launch windows for lunar landing "Launch windows for lunar landing" is a 1967 NASA documentary, and describes, with animation, the planning of a lunar mission with trajectories and physical capabilities that define these trajectories. Emphasizes launch windows and Earth reentry. Space Navigation "Space Navigation" was made in 1968 and is very informative, showing techniques and equipment used in lunar missions. The Apollo spacecraft...

  Mercury-Redstone 1 (MR-1) was the first flight test of the Redstone rocket in Project Mercury. Intended as an unmanned sub-orbital spaceflight, it was launched on November 21, 1960 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The launch failed in a peculiar fashion with the rocket shutting down just after liftoff. As such it became know as the "four-inch flight". The video is presented in real-time, with side-by-side views of the rocket. Interestingly, the original footage was taken at different speeds. The view on the right had a higher frame rate originally, as is typical of engineering cameras.  Here, it was matched to view on the left. Sounds were recreated, since there's no audio of this event.

VS-40 rocket launch: Launch test of my VS-40 sounding rocket add-on for Orbiter Space Flight Simulator. It features a complete surface base, detailed textures with normal-maps and accurate flight behaviour programmed in LUA, including roll induced by the tail fins. Buran aerotester virtual cockpit:  Working instrument implementation using LUA scripting in Orbiter Space Flight Simulator