Earth Resources Technology Satellite (downloaded from Google Video). [Category: News]

This early-70s NASA film profiles the Earth Resources Technology Satellite, a satellite designed to produce detailed photos of the earth from space. These photos turned out to be very useful for a number of purposes, including charting land use, tracking environmental changes, predicting weather, and establishing geographical boundaries. The uses being discovered are profiled in detail, which makes the film rather dry after a bit, but the images themselves are very striking and beautiful, and that makes things a bit more interesting. The film is also very 70s, with 70s clothing and hairstyles aplenty, plus lots of scenes of antiquated computer technology, which was state-of-the-art at the time.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.