In addition to the excellent mechanical and optical properties of the cameras and their Zeiss lenses, the cameras were relatively simple to use, and film was pre-loaded into magazines that could easily be interchanged in mid-roll when lighting situations changed. The Hasselblads proved the mainstay of the early space program and were used throughout the Gemini two-man spaceflights in 19. Unmodified Hasselblad 550C medium format cameras were first used on the last two Mercury one-man missions in 19. After processing, the film was scanned for radio transmission of the pictures back to Earth. These spacecraft carried fully automated film processing laboratories. Then Lunar Orbiters methodically mapped much of the Moon, examining the candidate sites for manned landings. Beginning in 1966, the probes dug, analyzed, and transmitted pictures from the same height an astronaut would see as he was standing there. Next, Surveyor probes landed softly on the surface. The first photographs from the Moon came in 1964 when Ranger 7 radioed photographs back as it plunged into the lunar surface, crashing and being destroyed in the process. Nearly 100,000 photographs taken by NASA's lunar probes, Ranger, Surveyor, and Lunar Orbiter, helped to map Apollo's landing sites. Satellites took over many of the intelligence gathering responsibilities that aircraft such as the high-flying U-2 previously provided. In the first decade of the space program, satellites were orbited for Earth resources and for mapping. Weather satellites permitted weather predictions as never before, saving lives and billions of dollars. Not only was little expected of those first pictures taken from space, but there was serious concern that taking pictures of other nations from orbit would be seen as an act of ill will and even one of war, as sovereign and sensitive nations might resent having pictures taken from orbit. Photography was deemed nothing more than a recreational extra.
At the beginning of the program, no one knew for certain whether weightlessness would prevent a man from seeing, or from breathing, or from eating and swallowing. At the time, everything that John Glenn did was deemed an experiment. An Ansco Autoset 35mm camera, manufactured by Minolta, was purchased in a local drug store and hastily modified so the astronaut could use it more easily while in his pressure suit. When John Glenn became the first American in orbit, bringing a camera was an afterthought. There were pictures of the spaceships, and launches, and of astronauts in training, but these were all pictures taken on the ground. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History.Astronaut Still Photography During ApolloĪt the beginning of the space program hardly anyone thought of photographs from space as anything more than a branch of industrial photography. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. He previously developed online content for the National Space Society and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, helped establish the space tourism company Space Adventures and currently serves on the History Committee of the American Astronautical Society, the advisory committee for The Mars Generation and leadership board of For All Moonkind. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018. Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of, an online publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. All rights reserved.Ĭ Editor, Contributor
FIRST MAN ON THE MOON ORIGINAL PICTURE FULL
The three dozen photos they chose have been presented chronologically, with one exception: the gallery begins with the rare photo of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.Ĭlick through to collectSPACE to view the full gallery of Neil Armstrong’s photo legacy.įollow collectSPACE on Facebook and Twitter collectSPACE and editor Robert Pearlman robertpearlman. To help illustrate that record, asked to search their extensive archives of NASA photographs and pick out those that showed the Armstrong that the public didn't always get to see. A great many lesser seen photos capture Armstrong as the research pilot, astronaut, engineer and, as his family described in a statement, "a reluctant American hero."
But they - the photos, not necessarily the obituaries - only told part of the story. (Image credit: NASA)Ī few of those other photos ran alongside obituaries in the numerous newspapers that told of Armstrong's death in their Sunday editions. This photo was relatively rarely-seen until it was used as the cover of Armstrong's authorized biography, "First Man" by James Hansen. Neil Armstrong, seen here aboard Gemini 8, was the first U.S.
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