NASA 360 Western Swing!

The NASA 360 crew recently returned home after a trip out to Denver to shoot in the Lockheed Martin High Bay, then on to Arizona to film the Desert Rats Testing.  While in Denver we shot interviews for the Juno mission to Jupiter, Maven Mission to Mars, and the GRAIL Mission to the Moon.  After a fast couple of days there, we rolled out to Arizona where we went to shoot the Desert RATS testing out by Flagstaff.  When we left Denver in the morning it was about 47 degrees.  It was only 115 degrees when we got to Phoenix!

We had a great trip and will have new shows up very soon.  Look for our latest show on Composite Materials at our website: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa 360

You can see pictures from our Western Trip here:  http://community.webshots.com/user/NASA360

It's been awhile


Hello NASA 360 fans. A brief update on our new season coming up; our crew is heading to Denver, Colorado to film with Lockheed Martin. We’re putting a program together on planetary exploration. After Denver we’re off to Flagstaff Arizona to film with Desert Rats. DRATS was a successful program last year and we’ve been invited back. Look for Twit pics from the field next week.

Our new program on composite materials is complete. Look for it soon on NASA.gov/nasa360. Stories on the CCM or Composite Crew Module, shell buckling and a story on Edison 2 round out the program. The Edison 2 team is designing and building a composite car for the X-Prize competition. We have a clip and pictures on our Facebook page. 

Thanks to everyone who enjoys watching our programs. It’s been a very successful 2 years of premiere programming.Have a great weekend!

Future of Aeronautics

It’s been awhile since we’ve posted a blog. What a long winter it’s been. Our team is happy to have our current program on line this month. We had a great time producing this one. After a trip to Dryden filming with Johnny Alonso and Fay Collier’s X48B team, we headed back to Langley to film in the Full Scale Tunnel with Jennifer. We were the last film crew to shoot in this historic facility. Plans are already underway to remove this great landmark. When we arrived for a site survey we found electricity to be an issue. After working with the facility manager we restored power for lights, but not heat. It was cold that morning! Tom, our B camera operator had to walk in socks because of the noise produced by his sneakers while we were rolling cameras. Jennifer was shaking between takes.
Our camera was mounted on a large jib that morning. We tried to capture just how massive this tunnel really is. The platform is about 20 feet above the floor, and the top of the tunnel is 30 feet higher. It truly is a magnificent building. You can see some pictures on our Webshots page.
Another part of the program was shot at Newport News International Airport with Anna McGowen. Tom, Kevin, and Johnny spent an afternoon on the tarmac filming the interview and gathering some footage for the program.
Our friend Gary Banziger, who films for NASA Langley Public Affairs, shot some great footage for us at the gantry. An MD500 helicopter was dropped to test a new airbag system. We had some cool slo-mo footage provided to us as well. It was a long edit session to get all this footage together. Thanks to everyone who helped us with this endeavor. Enjoy the program, we had a blast producing this one.

Next Program on Desert Rats and Other Analog Testing is Now Up.

The latest NASA 360 program featuring the Desert RATS testing in Arizona, Pavilion Lake in Canada and NEEMO off the Florida coast is now online.  Check out the program here: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa360

You can also see behind the scenes shots here:
http://community.webshots.com/user/NASA360

Hai – It's Johnny Alonso From NASA 360

Yo,
just dropping in to say hai, chime in and make my presence known on the 360 board 🙂
We had a blast (as we always do when we travel to location) first stop: filming at NASA Dryden in Edwards California – dude, that seems like ages ago… We were so stoaked to shoot the x-48 model but the winds picked up to like a million miles an hour (not really a million miles an hour, but enough to shut the flight down) so we finished up shooting in the hanger where the flight simulator was. That was pretty cool too – and the crew that we interviewed was right on point. We got tonz of beauty shots – Tom did this time elapse shot of the sunrise with the moon dipping down all in the same shot – it was hawt 🙂 Check it out, I was talking to this intern dude at the site. He said on their free time they’d take out these wind jammers and wind surf all over the lake bed getting speeds up to 45 miles per hour. The stretch was pretty big – it went for miles – I could only imagine how cool it would be to speed on one of the wind jammers over the lake bed. But if the wind drops out – you’re done and your walking back – now that would be SO lame. lol
Our next location landed us at Black Point Lava Flow in Arizona (which also seems like years ago – it was only 6 weeks back) we got to shoot the Desert Rats program – the Tri-Athlete and the Lunar Electric Rover or the LER (sounds like a few lines off my script written by Kevin & Bibs) Again – good timez from the second we jumped into breakfast at a hotel…to shooting on location with many familiar NASA faces. We got to hang with Kimberly Land from NASA Langley and the paisans from NASA Edge. We got to meet and hang with astronaut Mike Gernhardt and Geologist Brent Garry (Brent actually recognized me from NASA 360. He was like ” Hey…yea man, I know who you are, I’ve seen several episodes of NASA 360. I like the show.)  yo…….how cool is that!!! That so made my day!!! ;p
Bibs and I got a chance to talk with Mike G and interview him inside the LER. Now that was a trip! These cats Mike and Barry were in the LER for like 2 weeks straight never leaving the ride – completing many missions, totally living it. When they rolled out (actually got out of the LER for the first time after 2 straight weeks) your Johnny Alonso from NASA 360 was the first one to hi five astronaut Mike and grab an interview with geologist Brent….now tell me…who’s the man?? 😉
Kevin, Bibs, Tom, Kimberly, Spooner and I rolled over to the Grand Canyon. Ive never been to the canyon before – what a site, I tell you! We shot several tags and commercial spots for 360 at the canyon. Tom also shot his NASA 360 3-D tags at this cool looking, fake Mexican fortress. This was where we bought a bunch of souvenirs. I bought several post cards and 2 shot glasses. I never sent the post cards – this is becoming a habit.
So, we rolled and left the Grand Canyon. Next stop was this Native American roadside – jewelry, souvenir place (I should take a writing class) Kevin was rapping with the Indian guy telling him how Kevin and he are blood. They connected in their Native American way. Kevin bought a bunch of jewelry, then we rolled. That was cool.
I’m so missing other events that took place at both locations. But as you can see – not only do we get our work done and have a cool looking, hip and interesting educational show, we have a blast getting it done. We have our own way of making things happen and work. Sure, we might not follow the typical schematic for making a television series – but then again, NASA 360 isn’t your typical show 🙂
Hit me back –
Johnny Alonso – NASA 360

NASA 360 Program #13 is Now Available for Viewing

Check out our latest program shot in part at White Sands Test Facility and NASA Langley. We talked with official NASA smell tester Geroge Aldrich, Karen Rodriguiz at the Remote Hypervelocity Test Laboratory, and Dr. Mia Siochi who is developing new self healing material at NASA Langley.  This program is a lot of fun and very informative.   See how NASA tests to keep smells in check inside of our spacecraft, how we keep crews and equipment safe from orbital debris, and see some cutting edge materail that can heal itself! Take at look at our website:
http:www.nasa.gov/nasa360

Desert Rats

Our crew was excited as we left Flagstaff the morning of Sept. 12th. After a quick breakfast we headed to Black Point Lava Flow where NASA’s Desert Rats program was testing the LER, or Lunar Electric Rover. Tri-ATHLETE was also there, drilling in the side of a crater and moving around the desert very slowly. It was a beautiful day for filming. Johnny Alonso had his lines down and we shot some stand-ups around the LER and Tri-ATHLETE. With some time left in the day, we headed North to the Grand Canyon’s south rim. Our crew enjoyed the views while Tom shot some 3D footage for NASA. Johnny shot some promo’s and bumps for 360. What a view!

 LER   Johnny wrapping a shot     

Day 2 consisted of rain, lots of it. We fit some filming in between and got what we needed. We interviewed astronaut Mike Gernhardt and geologist Brent Garry through the com-link while they sat in the LER. After lunch, which consisted of Pop Tarts and beef jerky, we did some Facebooking and Tweeting while inside the Media vault. With storm clouds looming, the LER pulled up to home base for the last time. Hard rain forced it in the tent as Mike and Brent emerged after a 2 week stint inside.  As Mike jumped off the LER, Johnny was the first to give him a high five and congratulations. (We’ll post a clip on the NASA 360 facebook page.) After the LER was cleaned and photo’s taken, Johnny and camerman Mike Bibbo went inside to interview astronaut Mike Gernhardt. Johnny sat on the right, with Mike on the left. It was fantastic, what a thrill. Mike said he would do it all over again and hopes to drive the LER on the Moon one day. A big thanks to Mike for the interview, and to the entire Desert Rats team for allowing us to join them for this historic event. Look for the show coming up in a month or so. Check out more photos of the shoot at 

www.webshots.com/user/nasa360

 Mike Gernhardt, Johnny Alonso  

NASA 360 heads to NASA Dryden

Our crew just retuned from NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. We had a successful shoot with the folks from the X-48 team. We arrived early in the morning and filmed the sunrise over the mountains. Tom set up the camera on the truck while X-48 team members walked below to the building. We joined the team for morning meeting and soon headed out to the field closely following the X-48 scale model in tow. The lake bed was vast and beautiful. The ground cracked slightly and had a fine powder on top. While the crew set up the model for flight, we filmed from every angle and took in the beauty surrounding us. With the wind kicking up we had a feeling the flight might be scrubbed. 30 minutes later we were heading back, flight cancelled. But we had a great day, filming around the center with Johnny was fun. No lack of background shots – planes were everywhere, thanks to Dryden for helping us out. Look for this show in a few months. Next stop, “Desert Rats” in Arizona. See you then.

On the lake bed – X-48 in the background
747 Shuttle carrier

 

Hey – it's Johnny Alonso from NASA 360 :)

Hey everyone! 🙂
Sorry I’ve been like “radio silent” on the NASA 360 blogs, but ask Kevin or Bibs, I’m not really the web chatter – I’d rather just talk your ear off in person. :p
I hope you’re digging the show as much as I am.  And it’s not because I’m working on the show and I get to travel the world. It’s also not because I get to see NASA 360 on the television at the hotels we stay when on location. Brag that we won an Emmy and all these awards to all my actor friends in Los Angeles, meet way cool astronauts and hawt Olympic atheletes. Ride in an electric car at 100 miles an hour, check out the X-Games for free or eat at every Chipotle in America. Ride my Sector 9 skateboard through an episode at the beach, catching bad karma from someone picking up lava rocks, joking with our boy scaring him with “rattlesnake eggs”, watching race cars fly by at lightning speed not from the stands at Indy, but from the pits. See some of the latest inventions like “GPS” or “liquid metal” before it is put to use in the general public or the new skin tight astronaut space suit…or interview some of the coolest people who are inventing tomorrow, No…wait a minute… those ARE the reasons I’m digging NASA 360 – and you should too. We at NASA 360 are bringing you the hot info and getting the fab footage and stories hands on – we enjoy putting the show together as much as you enjoy watching it. Kevin, Jennifer, Bibs, Tom and Johnny Alonso, we really do have the greatest and coolest job in the world. Yea man, its called “NASA 360”