The temperatures on the Moon reach 280 degrees Fahrenheit and should have destroyed the films in the cameras of the astronauts.
The temperature mentioned refers to the surface temperature. Air temperature has no meaning on the Moon since there's no air. In an airless environment, objects transfer heat either through direct physical contact, or through the somewhat inefficient process of radiation and absorption. The temperature of the film has nothing to do with the lunar surface temperature unless the two were somehow to come into direct physical contact. The film temperature is determined mainly by the absorptive properties of the
Hasselblad (
500EL Data Camera) camera body. And predictably enough, those properties were controlled in the design such that the camera absorbed just enough heat from the sun, on average, to keep the film within its operational limits. The camera was given a silver finish to make it more resistant to thermal variations that ranged from full Sun to full shadow helping maintain a more uniform internal temperature. The two magazines carried along with the camera also had silver finishes.
The film used was an
Ektachrome E-3 emulsion on the special-purpose
Estar thin base.
Estar is made from polyester and was specially created for high-altitude surveillance photography where it would have to endure temperatures as low as -50 F. The
E-3 emulsion is good up to that temperature and below. Polyester melts at about 550 F. The emulsion, however, would be rendered chemically ineffective before the base melts. The film was able to withstand strong temperature extremes. The extremes of the Moon's surface temperature, however, don't apply as the film never got that hot or that cold.
The astronauts could not have survived in the heat on the Moon, because the vacuum of space cannot cool heated objects.
The astronaut's spacesuits weren't white just because it looked cool. White reflects heat radiation most, thereby minimizing the amount absorbed. The suits were also cooled using a system not unlike a refrigerator. It worked because water sprayed into a vacuum experiences a very rapid drop in pressure and consequently temperature. The same thing happens to aerosol sprays, which is why spray-on deodorants feel so cold. It is due to the sudden drop in pressure between the can and outside air.
When a small amount of water was sprayed onto a cooling element on the rear of the spacesuit, its temperature dropped so much that it would freeze over. The cooling water of the spacesuit was then pumped through this element. The heat of the water melted the ice, which rapidly boiled off (the boiling point of water being very low in a vacuum) into space, taking the unwanted heat with it.
