NASA shares the story of how a SpaceX launch completely melted this poor camera
On May 22, a SpaceX rocket launch left one poor, seemingly high-end camera horribly disfigured and forever ruined. Now, NASA has shared the specifics of what happened.
Bill Ingalls, the space and aeronautics agency's photographer, is the one who was tasked that day with capturing the launch. But even his 30 years of experience couldn't have stopped this from happening on that fateful day.
That's the view from Ingalls dearly departed camera, which appears to be (as you can see in the photo up top) some model of high-end Canon DSLR.
It's not that Ingalls doesn't know his business. He showed up that day ready to shoot, and in a space where he's shot before. He had multiple cameras set up, and this one was actually the furthest from the launch pad.
So what happened to melt this very expensive piece of gear?
"I had six remotes, two outside the launch pad safety perimeter and four inside," Ingalls said in a post on NASA's website. "Unfortunately, the launch started a grass fire that toasted one of the cameras outside the perimeter."
The heavy brush around the camera is to blame. When the rocket launched, the resulting blast started a fire that quickly spread out beyond the boundaries of the launch zone. As you can see in the photo below, the camera was effectively surrounded by a fire hazard.
Incredibly, when Ingalls finally retrieved and cracked open his forever-ruined camera, he found that the memory card remained intact. That's why we have that lovely GIF above offering a firsthand look at the death of a lone camera. R.I.P., Bill Ingalls Canon. We hardly knew ye.
It's not clearly exactly where the ruined camera is headed next, but Ingalls suggests it will probably be put on display at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Topics Cameras
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
