Originally Posted by
ORAC
Watch the movie and ignore the talking heads…
That's quite an ask when you have someone chattering away like a teenager with a sugar rush. A commentator should hold the audience in the palm of their hand. Simply whooping and telling them what their brains have already processed adds nothing. During a launch, there are so many things going on that are never explained. During my talks on rocket engineering, I first apologise for showing footage of Apollo launches that even your mother has seen a bazillion times, but explain the small stuff which until then, went over the heads of 99% of the viewers.
Take for example the stock footage of the Saturn V stage separation (the unmanned Apollo 4 test flight IIRC). First of all, the second stage with the upward facing camera is falling back due to "upward" firing braking rockets mounted on the outer wall of that stage, which separates the two sections. You then see three ullage motors (later reduced to a pair) firing on the third stage. Those imparted a slight acceleration which returned the fuel to the bottom of the tanks of the third stage, and lessened the risk of an engine being destroyed by ingesting vapour at the point of ignition. Upon engine light, the exhaust is a clean bright white light due to burning liquid hydrogen and oxygen (unlike the incredible F1 first stage engines). I call it engineering hiding in plain sight. Point out the science behind what is hiding in plain sight and if the audience are genuinely interested, they will be eating out of the palm of your hand.
And for goodness sake, never wear a hat indoors. I'll do it all for expenses and a ringside seat in Boca Chica. I'll even wear a jacket and tie.