Remote control video cameras on a suborbital rocket

Three video cameras were controlled in real time from the ground to a sub-orbital rocket during a fifteen minute flight from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Telemetry communications with the rocket allowed the control of the cameras. The pan, tilt, zoom, focus, and iris of two of the camera lenses, the power and record functions of the three cameras, and also the analog video signal that would be sent to the ground was controlled by separate microprocessors. A microprocessor was used to record data from three miniature accelerometers, temperature sensors and a differential pressure sensor. In addition to the selected video signal sent to the ground and recorded there, the video signals from the three cameras also were recorded on board the rocket. These recorders were mounted inside the pressurized segment of the rocket payload. The lenses, lens control mechanisms, and the three small television cameras were located in a portion of the rocket payload that was exposed to the vacuum of space. The accelerometers were also exposed to the vacuum of space