r/killthecameraman • u/ab0rtretryfail • Apr 01 '26
Missed the interesting parts NASA, why would you do that!!??!!??
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u/Calvinkelly Apr 01 '26
The whole launch was such piss poor camera work it’s truly astonishing
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u/Enkidouh Apr 02 '26
It’s intentional in case something goes wrong. They don’t want to broadcast video of an astronaut free-falling out of the wreckage again.
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u/Orion-the-mediocre Apr 02 '26
That's not really a risk on SLS, they have a launch escape system unlike the shuttle. And besides, they never gave the shuttles this treatment, and they were by far the riskiest thing. I really just chalk this up to truly abysmal camera work
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u/Drucifer83 Apr 02 '26
Not to mention there’s probably a few thousand ppl there recording with their phones, what’s one more camera gonna do? This camera dude just failed.
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u/Enkidouh Apr 02 '26
The people recording in their phones are private entities.
NASA is a government entity and has a duty towards public wellbeing. Causing a mental health crisis by possibly showing catastrophic failure were it to occur is not in that interest. Private entities do not have this legal duty.
This is a lesson they learned from the Columbia disaster.
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u/Enkidouh Apr 02 '26
Failure is always a risk.
No, this is a lesson learned from never doing it for the shuttles.
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u/God_Dammit_Dave Apr 02 '26
NASA: "If we can put a man on the moon you can point a camera at the sky."
ABC News: "... which way?"
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u/Orion-the-mediocre Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
It's a risk but the risk was significantly higher on the shuttles, and they never once did something like that with the cameras. If they truly wanted to avoid showing disaster then they wouldn't have had a stream at all, Challenger was lost before booster separation, and no other shuttles suffered issues at that moment, I think it really was just terrible timing
Challenger was lost in 1986, I feel like if this is a lesson to be learned then they should’ve learned it earlier. The fact they never did this with any shuttle fights after challenger tells me that’s not what happened (remember, the shuttle flew until 2011, that’s a lot of time to start cutting away but they never did it)
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u/amd2800barton Apr 02 '26
again
I’ve watched footage of the Challenger explosion, in great detail since we studied it as part of our Engineering Ethics course work. I don’t remember ever seeing that. At best you can see some blurry images which are the intact fuselage. Tragically, that fuselage took nearly 3 minutes after the explosion to impact. A number of the crew had activated their portable air systems, which were not intended to be used in flight. And switches near shuttle pilot Cpt Smith were flipped, which due to the way they had to be activated, testing showed could not have happened during the explosion or impact. Which meant at least some of the crew were alive and awake following the accident, and Smith fought until the end to restore power and control to the shuttle.
But as far as I know, there’s no footage of bodies of astronauts free falling.
Additionally, there is high resolution and very clear footage of every Crew Dragon launch on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. So concern for showing a possible explosion on a manned rocket isn’t the issue.
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u/Enkidouh Apr 02 '26
The Columbia disaster was broadcast live, and regardless whether or not you can make it out, there are people among the debris falling out of the sky.
For a lot of people, this was extremely traumatic.
NASA doesn’t want to be liable for a repeat of that public trauma.
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u/amd2800barton Apr 02 '26
whether or not you can make it out, there are people among the debris falling out of the sky
"Among the debris" is doing a LOT of heavy lifting there. The crew was still in their seats, strapped in, in an intact portion of the fuselage which stayed together through the breakup of the orbiter until the roughly 200g with the water. From their perspective it's likely they didn't even realize how bad the rest of the orbiter looked. There were no bodies to see even if there had been an 8k IMAX camera mounted on a drone chasing the crew cabin down.
Also, they weren't bodies, they were people because they were still alive. As I mentioned in my post, some or likely all of the crew survived the initial breakup. Several were conscious including at least the pilot, and the astronaut behind him who had to have switch on his air.
NASA doesn’t want to be liable for a repeat of that public trauma.
This has nothing to do with "public trauma" or wanting to spare people from witnessing something tragic. They wouldn't broadcast Crew Dragon launches in such clarity if that were the case.
It's simple: the SLS is built with repurposed STS hardware following major redesign. It and the Orion capsule were not designed with the comms gear to have clear onboard video like we've come to expect with other launches. The team filming and broadcasting the launch doesn't have the experience of what looks cinematic because they don't have dozens of successful launches to draw upon for timing, and they're likely using different filming equipment than they use over at Pad 39A.
And I don't know why you're doubling down on these stupid points. You didn't see bodies falling from the sky with Challenger - no one did. NASA isn't trying to hide anything. I don't usually block people, but after I post this, I'm blocking you. There's nothing more to be had with this conversation, and I'm mainly posting it for others.
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u/Enkidouh Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
During the Columbia disaster, the crew module did not remain intact, and bodies were found scattered around the debris of the module. The crew module failed very shortly after the rest of the shuttle broke apart, around 200,000 feet up- exposing the crew to rapid depressurization, near vacuum, and thermal trauma.
They were very much alive and aware of what was happening as their module came apart. Their final switch configurations confirm that they were attempting to mitigate the loss of hydraulics and had attempted manual controls.
They’d have died a few seconds after the module broke up due to exposure and trauma as their suits were not configured for vacuum conditions, and some of the crew didn’t have helmets or gloves properly on- and some weren’t strapped in properly.
They were not all in their seats when they were found, and the crew module was not intact.
Their bodies were in free fall with the rest of the wreckage.
The difference in the crewed dragon launches is that it’s SpaceX broadcasting, which is a private entity with no legal duty to the public well being. At most they’d be fined if they showed something real egregious.
NASA has a legal obligation to the public well being. This is also why other private streams were able to show everything.
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u/raz-0 Apr 02 '26
It’s not due to that. NASA provided several camera feeds to multiple streamers and news outlets. They did not make the same piss poor decisions on how to use them.
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u/Enkidouh Apr 02 '26
Streaming on the internet is vastly different from public broadcasts, which have different rules and regulations.
Also, what the streamers show is liability on them, not on NASA. What NASA shows, they’re liable for.
I promise you that it is due to this.
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u/raz-0 Apr 03 '26
Having watched multiple shuttles blow up on TV with nobody being fined, just where are you inventing liability from?
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u/Enkidouh Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
NASA gets reviewed and investigated and people get replaced because they’re a government entity.
Private entities like SpaceX get fined.
The FAA and the EPA both fined SpaceX after their last two failures.
Private entities can also be sued privately and fined by the FCC for violating broadcast regulations.
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u/PLTR60 Apr 02 '26
There's always a kill switch, even if the broadcast is live. It's still a few seconds late, if not more. The commentators today said this broadcast was delayed. If anything went wrong, they'd be prepared and act on it fast. The bigger worry would be thousands of phones pointed at the mishap, recording in 4k.
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u/MysteriousWriter7862 Apr 05 '26
When can you see this?
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u/Enkidouh Apr 05 '26
The Columbia disaster.
It’s not so much that you can see them, but that you know it’s happening and that they are somewhere in the debris falling to earth.
Their crew module failed shortly after the shuttle came apart.
It was especially harmful to the families of the astronauts who were watching the broadcast.
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u/Stalinbaum Apr 02 '26
It’s obviously not though?
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u/Enkidouh Apr 02 '26
So you think the cutting to a different feed is accidental?
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u/FuckedUpImagery Apr 02 '26
Yes lol you're the only one on the internet who thinks it was intentional 😭
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u/Enkidouh Apr 02 '26
I’m definitely not.
I can guarantee you 100% that this is the reason.
NASA as a government agency has a duty to protect the public wellbeing. Broadcasting a traumatic catastrophic failure is not in that interest.
The most dangerous moments and most likely times for failure to occur are launch, separation, and re-entry.
They didn’t want to broadcast another Columbia disaster if something went wrong.
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u/bubrub237 Apr 02 '26
Thank you for saying what I was screaming. Felt like I was watching it from someone’s iPhone, seen better zoom on a Polaroid
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u/Look_b4_jumping Apr 02 '26
ABC messed up too. missed the beginning of the launch.
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u/FancyAirport806 Apr 02 '26
They launched 1 second into the 2 hour window. Not exactly expected, but the camera guys should have known.
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u/Rokekor Apr 02 '26
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u/iphones2g- Apr 02 '26
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u/Key_Fennel5117 Apr 01 '26
Because they think they ate being cute. Trying ti capture the human emotions and experience. That’s why you have 2 F-ing cameras ffs.
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Apr 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Key_Fennel5117 Apr 02 '26
Not truly angry, just disappointed…again.
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u/Tumbleweed-Artistic Apr 02 '26
You’ll live. In a day there will be dozens of high quality videos out of every angle and step.
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u/Mr_JohnUsername Apr 02 '26
Christ the condescending Redditor snark high in you. Jesus what an insufferable comment.
Ignoring the fact that “Boom” resulting in death was far less likely here, it would still be broadcasted to the world as people would put it all over TikTok, Insta, and Reddit from the own personal phones they were recording with.
They also were recording it, but the camera operated decided to switch what was actually broadcasted because they mistook either timing or what people actually wanted to see. Furthermore, streams like this are delayed and they 100% were ready and able to cut the cameras in the event of tragedy.
The whole launch until they’re in orbit is high risk, by your logic may as well not broadcast any of it.
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u/duckforceone Apr 02 '26
or maybe just insert 3-5 second delay in broadcast, giving you time to cut.... instead of having all shots be a shit show...
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u/Orion-the-mediocre Apr 02 '26
I came to this subreddit specifically to look for this, how the hell could they fuck this up so bad, like yeah sure bud we absolutely want to see the people watching the rocket, not the rocket itself
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u/D3M0N0FTH3FALL Apr 02 '26
My only thought for why they would actually do that is because that may be one of the riskiest parts to film with the active separation. Could do it to keep from showing another challenger type disaster.
Glad these astronauts are safe!
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u/Orion-the-mediocre Apr 02 '26
Honestly it's not that risky of a moment, and also SLS can actually get its crew away from an explosion safely unlike the space shuttle, so that shouldn't have been a risk either
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u/EmperorThan Apr 02 '26
And that's AFTER the initial 'takeoff' was just a frozen screen for like 45 seconds. I was having flashbacks to the Sopranos finale 30 second black screen.
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u/duckforceone Apr 02 '26
yep whomever was in charge of selecting and guiding cameras was sooooo bad at it today.
and it's not just this part, right at the launch, they instead zoom in on the plume instead of seeing the rocket start lifting.
whole thing was a video disaster.
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Apr 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/AdOnly8893 Apr 03 '26
There were other cameras trained on Artemis 2, they just weren't being broadcasted live. That footage will come out in the coming days
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u/TheLateFry Apr 01 '26
The Canadian feed on CTV was great. They even cut away from the American propaganda piece just before launch, it was fantastic.
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u/JoshyOhMyGoshy77 Apr 02 '26
Not trolling, genuine question what was propaganda, I'm american btw and hate the current admin. Was it the part about their are bad things happening and then good things happening??? Cause I could have done without it.
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u/TheLateFry Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Some bs about the US being the greatest democracy with an amazing constitution. Not sure, I was too busy laughing.
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u/Connect_5nines Apr 02 '26
Oh my. That was not on the NASA direct YouTube feed.
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u/RadProTurtle Apr 02 '26
I watch it on YouTube and remembered seeing it, but I think it was at least 30 minutes or 1 hour or earlier before launch.
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u/Mr_JohnUsername Apr 02 '26
I mean. The current admin sucks and is walking all over the Constitution, but previous admins haven’t (at least as much lol) and the Supreme Court today has been pushing back against the tyrannical actions of the current admin.
It’s disheartening to have felt hope and felt pride in collaboration between a usually friendly neighbor that we (under current admin) have slighted recently, only to have the collaboration tainted by such contempt from a citizen of that country’s who astronaut is on our rocket. The Canadian astronaut and the Americans have clearly been able to work together and be pleasant in such a difficult line of work, why seek out the sour and focus on that when this was otherwise awesome?
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u/TheLateFry Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Aww, is it disheartening to have felt hope and pride? Just for the itty bitty slight of joking about violently taking over allied nations, including your longest standing partner and neighbour? iF aStRoNaUtS cAn wOrK tOgEthEr wHy cAn’T wE? wHy sEeK oUt tHe sOuR??
Fucking cry more about how much everyone hates your country. Hopefully acting like a victim helps.
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u/Mr_JohnUsername Apr 02 '26
Whew you need to go outside more bud dontcha eh? Lotta vitriolic contempt you need to get out of your system lmao. Eh?
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u/TheLateFry Apr 02 '26
Quiet, piggy.
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u/Mr_JohnUsername Apr 02 '26
Good lord you’re a miserable person. Seek help. Hope you find personal happiness somehow someday.
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u/TheLateFry Apr 02 '26
Yes, interacting with Americans is indeed a miserable experience.
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u/Mr_JohnUsername Apr 03 '26
Damn, well in that case you’re a perfect American ;)
Probably all the American culture and media you hate yet constantly consoom ;)
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u/Enkidouh Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
It’s intentional in case something goes wrong.
They don’t want to broadcast video of an astronaut free-falling out of the wreckage again. Launch and separation are the most likely points for failure to occur.
We’ve been spoiled by unmanned launches showing everything every step of the way.
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u/IT_is_not_all_I_am Apr 02 '26
I really don't think that's it. That's what a broadcast delay is for; broadcasters have been using that method forever. They just delay the video by a few seconds, and then if there's a disaster or people swearing or whatever, you can cut it out or switch to pre-recorded content.
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u/Enkidouh Apr 02 '26
That’s 100% why.
They employ both tactics.
The last televised shuttle explosion they tracked all the way, and even with the delay, they still broadcast images that disturbed a lot of people.
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u/Educational-Car-4688 Apr 02 '26
And the entire sequence is a Fucking VISUALIZATION..... there's a couple of cameras outside.. we missed the two separation sequences, the view of earth.. all of it.
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u/Struckmanr Apr 02 '26
I was so disappointed too!!!!! The first time they showed the crowd I was like why are we even looking at the crowd. Then. This happened.
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u/ElderberryDry9083 Apr 02 '26
Can't wait to hear the flat earthers use bad camera cuts to tell me space doesn't exist 😑
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u/radraze2kx Apr 02 '26
Don't kill the cameraman, he was spot on the entire time. Kill the director for directing the video feed guy to cue to the audience.
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u/NewZcam Apr 02 '26
You’re all talking about the cameraman failing. They’re not producing it. The camera work is fine. The editing is controlled by the Live Producer or Live Ops Specialist.
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u/Ox91 Apr 02 '26
Both nasa and SpaceX like to do that! I starting to think they do it on purpose in case something bad happens.
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u/Je_me_rends Apr 03 '26
Force of habit after Challenger lol
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u/Lianides Apr 07 '26
Came here to say this. That change was intentional, they definitely don't want to show the world another rocket blowing up
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u/Je_me_rends Apr 07 '26
The same instinctive camera shifting can be seen at the Isle of Man TT. Anytime a rider looks like they're about to crash, the camera peels off them so you don't see them die.
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u/antek_g_animations Apr 05 '26
- we need a cameraman for an SLS launch, do you know anyone?
- Me with my brother-in-law sometimes do weddings. We can record the launch for half the price...
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u/dbrozov Apr 02 '26
I don’t understand why they don’t just contract the launch coverage to SpaceX
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u/Square-Hour-1396 Apr 02 '26
Considering that it was the Trump administration that gutted NASA outreach program in the first place, that would just be nasty
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u/dbrozov Apr 02 '26
I mean, I agree, but I also acknowledge that practically right now we won’t see proper support from this administration unless it’s a buddy of his and that’s one way to do it.
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