[Tom Bishop]

An interesting video about old space shuttle footage.

It seems hard to explain how what is seen is a "reflection of the window." There are black sections that the man disappears behind, and the man does not overlap the shuttle.

[Tumeni]

OK, so you (apparently) don't believe that there was a man there, that there was a Space Shuttle at all, and even that space doesn't exist. Would that be a broadly-correct summation? If not, please correct me.

If that IS a correct summation, then can you provide a plausible scenario of what you really think was going on when this clip was made?

[Rama Set]

An interesting video about old space shuttle footage.

It seems hard to explain how what is seen is a "reflection of the window." There are black sections that the man disappears behind, and the man does not overlap the shuttle.

Can you explain your objection in a little more detail?  What is strange about a reflection disappearing in a contained viewing area?  What does "overlap the shuttle mean"?

[andiwd]

The black object that he disappears behind is the camera that he (looks like Astronaut Dale Gardner by his distinctive moustache) is using the take this video.

The shuttle being painted bright white will wash out any reflection on the window making it harder to see over the top of the image, but it's clearly there.

https://i.giphy.com/media/1APhzXCgZOynAaqGxF/giphy.mp4

You will see the blue area on the right hand side of the shuttle bay is clearly lighter when Dale's reflection overlaps. There are also a lot more details visible on the NASA uploaded version here that can only really be seen in motion, such as his metallic headset that is visible all the way down the side of the bay when he moves his head.

[Tom Bishop]

The black object that he disappears behind is the camera that he (looks like Astronaut Dale Gardner by his distinctive moustache) is using the take this video.

The shuttle being painted bright white will wash out any reflection on the window making it harder to see over the top of the image, but it's clearly there.

https://i.giphy.com/media/1APhzXCgZOynAaqGxF/giphy.mp4

You will see the blue area on the right hand side of the shuttle bay is clearly lighter when Dale's reflection overlaps. There are also a lot more details visible on the NASA uploaded version here that can only really be seen in motion, such as his metallic headset that is visible all the way down the side of the bay when he moves his head.

Pretty ambiguous. Easily a video compression artifact.

[Rama Set]

I don't think you get artifacts on VHS tapes do you?

[Tumeni]

Pretty ambiguous. Easily a video compression artifact.

So, why would there be any video compression on it?

[Tom Bishop]

Did you think they parachuted the tapes down to Huston?

[andiwd]

Did you think they parachuted the tapes down to Huston?

What kind of question is that? No I don't think they parachuted the tapes down to Houston, they were instead brought down in the space shuttle they were taken on. Remember that these particular videos were not used live or broadcasted, but were used in a press conference after the end mission was concluded.

It's also interesting to note that you believe the parts of the image which exactly show what we would expect for what this image is (a reflection) can be explained away by an image artefact in your eyes, but the rest of the image which would therefore prove to be some sort of stage hand (which NASA forgot about, had a press conference about and 30 years later uploaded to the internet) is allowed to stand.

[Tom Bishop]

I agree that this isn't going to go into the hall of fame. But there are certainly some odd things going on with this footage. Even if the footage wasn't broadcasted directly from the Shuttle, how would we know that the footage wasn't rebroadcasted or compressed at some point before reaching us?

Things do seem to create artifacts. At around the 5:46 mark of the video in the OP the yellow pieces make artifacts as they move around:

[Tumeni]

Did you think they parachuted the tapes down to Houston?

So ... you reckon there were tapes that needed to be returned to Houston from somewhere out in space, then?

Which means you must agree that there was a shuttle-sized object in space, a working VHS camera, and humans to remove the tapes from the camera and package them up for parachuting.

No?

[Tumeni]

... odd things going on with this footage. Even if the footage wasn't broadcasted directly from the Shuttle, how would we know that the footage wasn't rebroadcasted or compressed at some point before reaching us?

So what if it was? What would that actually prove?

Things do seem to create artifacts. At around the 5:46 mark of the video in the OP the yellow pieces make artifacts as they move around:

Again, so what? You're looking at something which has been encoded for display on YouTube, not the original.

[nickrulercreator]

Those black objects could be the camera, the side of the window, or any other object between the window and the man. He doesn't appear to be in front of the shuttle because the shuttle is a bright, white object that washes out faint, dark objects (the man).



This is a gif of the scene in question from the original source video (provided by andiwd). It can be clearly seen that his reflection overlaps the shuttle in the right side of the frame. Look very carefully because it's quite faint, but some bright facial features can be seen right on, and just below the blue area (where that diagonal line is at the edge of the shuttle, mainly). It's simply nothing but a reflection.

[Tom Bishop]

That one seems more conclusive, especially the spots deep in the craft over the shadows. Good work.