Amateur Photographer – 20 July 2019

26 20 July 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113

Create your own iconic images.

ZEISS Moon Landing Promotion Source:

NASA

Piers Bizony is a science

journalist and author who

specialises in writing

about outer space, space

history, special effects

and technology. He has

written over 15 books

and for publications such

as The Independent, BBC

Focus and Wired

often the only photographer
with access to training sessions
and closed engineering meetings
during the Mercury, Gemini and
Apollo missions. Usually one of the
last people to see the astronauts
before lift-off , Taub was dubbed
‘Two More Taub’ owing to his
insistence on shooting just a couple
more frames before the crews
disappeared into their spacecrafts.
Taub worked for NASA from
1958 until 1975 while Bill Ingalls
has been NASA HQ’s senior
contract photographer since 1989.
The 14-year gap between Taub
and Ingalls holding the senior
photography post at NASA was
simply due to the position never
being fi lled.
Following an internship with
NASA a persistent Ingalls hounded
the agency for a job. He phoned
every week to see if a position was
available and says, ‘I think they
just got sick of me calling and
said, “God. Get him a desk. Throw
him in a corner.”’ Ingalls was given
the choice of being a photo
researcher or a photographer – he
chose the latter.
Ingalls was given access to
NASA’s camera cabinet, which

still contained much of Taub’s

equipment. Ingalls once explained,

‘I’m a little bit of a hoarder when

it comes to the gear. I still have

everything that was in that cabinet

because they have these stories that

go with them.’ For example, the

cabinet contained two Nikonos

underwater cameras which,

Taub told Ingalls, ‘were used

by frogmen during Apollo

splashdown recoveries’.

Both Taub and Ingalls had to deal

with highly distressing assignments.

It was Taub’s duty to record the

aftermath of the tragic deaths of

astronauts Gus Grissom, Roger

Chaff ee and Ed White who

perished, via asphyxiation, in a

fi re within the Apollo 1 capsule

on 27 January 1967.

Similarly, in 2003, Ingalls had to

photograph the aftermath of the

deaths of seven astronauts when

the space shuttle Columbia broke

apart during its descent to Earth.

This included photographing the

then-NASA deputy administrator

Fred Gregory making phone

calls following the tragedy. When

Ingalls said he felt uncomfortable

at recording such moments,

Gregory replied, ‘The number

one thing is that people should

never forget this day. It needs to be

seen. It needs to be remembered –

every bit of it.’

Impact of NASA’s images

The rapid development of NASA’s

operations in the 1960s dovetailed

with an increasing awareness of

the impact of space imagery upon

both the public and the budgetary

decision makers in Washington DC.

So how was the impact of such

imagery leveraged?

Bizony says, ‘Somebody once said,

“No bucks, no Buck Rogers” (it’s

actually a line from the movie The

Right Stuff ). The scale and scope

of NASA’s public relations eff ort in

the 1960s was absolutely vast. Just

imagine... they sent out tens of

thousands of photographic prints

and transparencies absolutely free

of charge to answer almost any

sensible media request. NASA

knew that tax-funded space

programs had to give a lot back

in order to justify themselves to

the public.’

He continues, ‘Apollo 8’s shots of

the Earth rising above the lunar

horizon have been etched into the

collective human consciousness.

Above: Apollo 11

Command Module

Pilot Michael Collins

inspects NASA’s

Lunar Receiving

Laboratory, where

rock samples

collected by Apollo

were analysed.

Nitrogen gas

protected the rocks

from accidental

corrosion in Earth’s

oxygen-rich

atmosphere

NASA scientists are

confident that Buzz Aldrin’s

boot prints are still as

sharp and distinct today as

when they were first

stamped down in 1969

because the moon has no

air or rain to erode them

IN ASSOCIATION WITH