24 20 July 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113
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Discover the story behind the images. Source: NASAbefore the end of the 1960s.
Finally, both Project Gemini
and the Apollo program (aka
Project Apollo) began in 1961.
Gemini was based on studies to
increase the capabilities of the
Mercury spacecraft to long-
duration flights and was designed
to be a support project to Apollo
with a clear focus on extravehicular
activity, rendezvous and docking.
Put simply, Apollo was a manned
spaceflight program that used a
combination of a launch rocket
(Saturn V), a Command Module
(to take astronauts into orbit
around the moon and then bring
them back to Earth), and a Lunar
Module (to land on the moon).
Access for photographers
Webb quickly gave structure to
NASA and expanded its facilities,
including the establishment of
the Houston Manned Spacecraft
(Johnson) Center and the Florida
Launch (Kennedy) Center. The
arrival of Webb at the helm of
NASA also heralded an expanded
role for photography, both within
and outside the agency’s operations.
Bizony reveals, ‘He [Webb]
instituted a deliberate policy of
inviting artists to document NASA’s
preparations for space. He knew
that it was important to get a
creative record of these momentous
events, and not just purely a
technical record. Good painters,
illustrators and, of course,
photographers were always given
an amazing degree of access and
freedom of expression.’
The photographers who quickly
began documenting the operations
of NASA included LIFE magazine’s
Ralph Morse, Hank Walker, Fritz
Goro and Ralph Crane. Bizony
explains, ‘Mainly this was because
in those days photo-journal
magazines such as LIFE had a huge
audience. Colour TV did not yet
dominate the media. LIFE
negotiated special access, and
Ralph Morse and other great
photographers got through the
NASA gates because of their
connections with the magazine.’
Of those external photographers
who were granted access to NASA
Ralph Morse was the most prolific,Left: Navy divers
prepare to retrieve
the Gemini 6A crew
on 16 December- Green dye
was released by
the spacecraft
on splashdown,
making it easier
to spot them
from the air
Below: Gemini 11 prime and backup crews
by the Mission Simulator. Pictured, left
to right, are astronauts William Anders,
backup crew pilot; Richard Gordon Jr,
prime crew pilot; Charles Conrad Jr, prime
crew command pilot; and Neil Armstrong,
backup crew command pilotAbove: The Mercury Control Centre (MCC)
at Cape Canaveral supervised seven
human spaceflights between May 1961
and May 1965, into the beginning of the
Gemini era. Meanwhile the more advanced
control complex in Houston was taking
shape ahead of Apollo