This color educational film is about the Scout Rocket launched by the Netherlands which carried The Astronomical Netherlands Satellite (which was a space-based X-ray and ultraviolet telescope). It was directed by Albert Brosens. The rocket was launched in August 1974 and this film was released circa the mid 1970s.
No opening titles. Printing press in the Netherlands in 1974. A satellite is mounted and packed for shipment to the USA. Carefully the satellite is put into a truck. A forklift moves it into and around in the truck. The truck leaves and heads for the airport. The main truck carries the device, the other trucks carry auxiliary parts. A plane slowly taxis on the runway. It is a cargo plane and the cargo doors open. Carefully the crates are put onto a pallet and placed into the plane (:06-3:30). Pilots discuss weather conditions. Pallets continue to be loaded onto the plane. The Lufthansa supercargo plane lifts off with its cargo. An animated map shows the flight path from Amsterdam to the Western Test Range in California. The plane lands at Vandenberg Air Force Base. At night, the cargo is unloaded from the plane. Engineers and NASA officials discuss. Slowly a Scout rocket is transported by a tractor trailer truck down a road next o the ocean. Engineers work in a control room. A balancing test is performed. A truck carries the rocket (3:31-7:17). A truck carries its cargo. The Scout rocket is in a hangar being worked on by engineers. Workers open the rocket and reseal it (7:18-9:15) The hangar is pulled back to free the rocket. A crane raises the rocket to its vertical position very slowly. The rocket is on its launch pad. Engineers mill about nearby. Across the sea in Europe is where the rocket is being controlled from, by the Dutch. In Belgium is where this is occurring. Radar equipment, engineers in the control room. Computers at work, close on the control room engineers (9:16-12:16). Control room activity. Systems are checked for a ‘go.’ Close on computers and equipment. A control room engineer smokes. The moment of launching is near. Countdown to launch. The rocket is launched and clears the tower, heads for space. Happy engineers. The rocket soars high carrying the Netherlands Astronomical satellite. The rocket continues to fly, heading for space. An engineer on the phone. Continued shots of the rocket soaring towards space (12:17-16:23). Engineers watch a screen. The rocket continues onward. Engineers at work. Radar equipment moves. Close on computer lights. A diagram of what the satellite will do. Shots of the milky way and the galaxy, different nebulas. A dying star (16:23-19:12). Sirius, the brightest star. Clusters of stars deep in the galaxy. A black hole. Engineers in the control room use computers and wear headsets to communicate with one another. A printer prints (19:12-20:21). End credits over a radar tower (20:22-20:56).
The Astronomical Netherlands Satellite (ANS; also known as Astronomische Nederlandse Satelliet) was a space-based X-ray and ultraviolet telescope. It was launched into Earth orbit on 30 August 1974 at 14:07:39 UTC in a Scout rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, United States. The mission ran for 20 months until June 1976, and was jointly funded by the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (NIVR) and NASA. ANS was the first Dutch satellite, and the Main Belt asteroid 9996 ANS was named after it.
The Scout family of rockets were American launch vehicles designed to place small satellites into orbit around the Earth. The Scout multistage rocket was the first (and for a long time, the only) orbital launch vehicle to be entirely composed of solid fuel stages.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
