NASA photographer Bill Ingalls managed to capture amazing photographs during the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch during Tuesday, May 22. Unfortunately for him, one of his cameras was irreparably damaged during takeoff.
Ingalls found his camera later, completely destroyed by fire.
Melted Camera, No Problems
Despite the conditions that Ingalls found the camera in, it was still able to capture some photographs before it succumbed to the intense heat. In a Facebook post, Ingalls told the story about his destroyed camera. Ingalls included a picture of the camera in his Facebook post along with the photos that it captured, including one while the camera was being burned.
Ingalls says that he set up the remote camera in the pad perimeter and found it to be completely baked by fire. He says in the post that the camera managed to capture images until the end of its life.
Initially, his post didn't mention how far the camera was from the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket but he made an addendum to the post. Ingalls says that he had other remote cameras much closer to the launch pad and those didn't suffer the same irreparable damage.
Ingalls reveals that the reason why the camera suffered such heavy damage was due to a small brush that started as a result of the rocket launch. Ingalls says in the post that these sorts of situations aren't unheard of during launches. He adds that a nearby fireman was able to extinguish the fire while it was happening but it was too late.
For the launch, Ingalls set-up for cameras to capture the event. All four of the cameras were much closer to the launch pad than the one that was destroyed.
Unprepared Photographers
Photographers know that the delicate instruments that they use to capture photographs can succumb to the dangers of the job. During the Solar Eclipse in 2017, many photographers were unprepared for what happened to their cameras. It was the first solar eclipse to pass the continental US since 1979.
Camera rental company Lensrentals posted some of the damage done. Even though they told people renting the equipment that they had to be careful with it because of the damage that can occur during the eclipse. Lensrentals added in their article, that even though their equipment was damaged, they didn't want it to seem like a criticism of its customers.
Customers returned equipment with melted sensors, mirror damage, lens iris damage, ND System Damage, The damage was done to the cameras by the heat and brightness of the eclipse.
