4K fisheye fly-through of ISS

November 5, 2016 10:41 AM

Would you like to see an ultra-high-definition fly-through of the International Space Station, shot with a fisheye lens? Video is 18 minutes long.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The (25 comments total)

The music is perfect.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 11:06 AM on November 5, 2016

tl; dw: Reese's Pieces and the Solar System's largest collection of orphaned power cables.

Also, literal shit cans.
posted by klanawa at 11:07 AM on November 5, 2016

It's like Night Walk in space.
posted by cardboard at 11:35 AM on November 5, 2016

If they didn't use a fisheye lense, we'd see that the earth is flat.
posted by grobertson at 12:08 PM on November 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

The Apollo astronauts said the moon smelled like burnt gunpowder. I'm betting the ISS smells of feet and farts.
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:48 PM on November 5, 2016

It's so terrifyingly claustrophobic. I know that there's plenty of space in the ISS - the laptop at 9:50 provides some much-needed scale - but to be surrounded at all times with all these surfaces covered in cables and displays and switches and latches and pipes and control lights and widgets and aaaaaaaaghhh!!!
posted by hat_eater at 1:02 PM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Here in Zarya's cargo storage, metal canisters are used to store human waste, equipment, and dry food.


"Extra care must be taken to ensure they are labeled correctly."
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:07 PM on November 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

I haven't got a 4K projector, just standard HD, but watching this at 100" across was just spellbinding. Spooky seeing it without any humans in shot - especially the empty spacesuits.

And they never did find where the phantom saxophonist was hiding.

But yeah, what an audacious bit of hardware the ISS is. It seems such a shame it's going to be burned up; I wish it could be moved to a safe parking orbit somewhere away from other hardware so that in time, we can go back and turn it into the orbiting museum it deserves to be and go visit.
posted by Devonian at 1:28 PM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

all these surfaces covered in cables and displays and switches and latches and pipes and control lights and widgets


I rather like all the equipment, and webbing, and mission stickers on random surfaces, and things.

It's all those little details that give it an extra level of realism.



Hold on...I'm now being told that it actually is real.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:39 PM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Beautiful. But I would have liked it even better if it wasn't empty -- if the crew was there, explaining what the equipment was.
posted by Termite at 1:44 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Seeing things like this gives me hope for humanity. When we work together in peace, we can achieve incredible things. Devonian used the word "audacious" above and I think it's really apt; the complexity and fragility of the station is obvious absolutely everywhere you look. The environment in which it exists is unimaginably hostile and inaccessible—and yet there it is. People made that, largely just to show that they could, and also as practice so that they can do a better job next time. It's genuinely inspiring.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:02 PM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

These ancient eyes originally read the title as 4K fisheye fly-through of ISIS. And yea, verily, I was confused. Now to watch.
posted by Splunge at 2:34 PM on November 5, 2016

At 13:24, there is a Polynesian navigational stick chart on the "wall". Backup?
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 3:14 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Things are about to get... bulbous
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 4:11 PM on November 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

what an audacious bit of hardware the ISS is. It seems such a shame it's going to be burned up

Thank goodness for the new chinese space race, unlikely that with a Heavenly Palace (天宫一号) up in competition that funding by the west will dry up, at least until there are paying customers at the Bigelow Hotel.

Did they show the BEAM in this tour I didn't notice, or was this video prior to the inflation?
posted by sammyo at 5:07 PM on November 5, 2016

I kept imagining all of the scurrying about going on to avoid being seen by the camera.
posted by zengargoyle at 5:14 PM on November 5, 2016

I didn't see it, no. That said, I think they mostly keep BEAM closed up becausenit's so experimental? They periodically go in to check on it but that's about it. But it does have a pretty distinctive black hatch and it's attached to the Tranquility module which the camera did enter so I think it's just not there.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:28 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Things are about to get... bulbous

That;s right, the Mascara Snake. And because it's on the ISS - fast and bulbous.

Got me?
posted by Devonian at 6:07 PM on November 5, 2016

With this sort of perspective, I expected at least a few rooms to be mostly dark, with maybe some emergency lights sputtering on and off, and unidentifiable pools of liquid on the floor. Wait, did you see something move...over there...?
posted by the sobsister at 8:23 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

But yeah, what an audacious bit of hardware the ISS is. It seems such a shame it's going to be burned up

Hey now- don't count us out just yet. Remember how Spirit and Opportunity were only supposed to last 90 days? Yeah, engineers lie are conservative. We have lots of time left with this baby.

(14 year ISS program veteran, and it never stops impressing me. It is an astonishing achievement, and I am so so proud to keep playing my small part. My favorite bit is that all the models of it around the office we have are terrible- they all sag and fall apart. We built something that we can't make decent models of in 1g, because it was never meant to exist in 1g.)

I swore off reading NASA posts around here, but this is great footage we were really excited to get down, and also who am I to argue with a GSV.
posted by zap rowsdower at 9:03 PM on November 5, 2016 [12 favorites]

That was really neat. I'd cut off my thumb for a chance to visit in person.

I was wondering what all those things that looked like mail parcels are? Also I wonder what they need an eye chart for?
posted by james33 at 4:27 AM on November 6, 2016

It's because microgravity, among other things, messes up your eyes.
posted by zap rowsdower at 5:59 AM on November 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

This was fantastic. A few things really struck me:

1. There must be a giant Word document somewhere that describes what each and every one of those cables is supposed to be plugged into and what it does.

2. How careful do you have to be about all the wires and cables that are everywhere?

3. They must select Astronauts who have been trained not to fiddle with wires and cables because I would be distracted all day long plugging and unplugging things.
posted by mmascolino at 8:07 AM on November 6, 2016

What piece of music is that?
posted by gucci mane at 4:03 PM on November 6, 2016

There's a note at the end that the music is by "Jason Candler for Guarsh" which seems to point to here: http://www.guarsh.com

finding the actual piece might take some legwork
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:01 PM on November 6, 2016