Australian Camera – September-October 2019

front of the film plane – which
optically imprinted fixed cross-type
marks, allowing for very precise
photogrammetric measurements
(i.e. for determining the distances
between objects) to be made from
the negatives or transparencies.
The HEDC bodies, lenses and
film magazines were painted
silver to stabilise the camera’s
internal temperature when moving
between conditions ranging from
-65 degrees Celsius in the shade to
over 120 degrees in the sun.
The Apollo 11 mission
commander and the first man
to set foot on the Moon, Neil
Armstrong, was also tasked with
carrying out all the photography on
the lunar surface, with the HEDC
fixed to a bracket on the chest
of his space suit. This meant it
was pointed wherever he turned,
and so framing was a bit hit-and-
miss. It also means that all the
photographs taken while the Apollo
11 crew were on the Moon – and
which show an astronaut – are
of the lunar module pilot, Edwin
‘Buzz’ Aldrin. Armstrong himself
only ever appears as a tiny white
reflection in Aldrin’s visor. In all, he
shot a total of three magazines,
each containing 150 frames, over
the 21.5 hours that the pair where
ontheMoon.

A secondcamerawasaboard

theApollo 11 lunarlanderandthis

wascalledtheHasselbladElectric

Camera,orHEC,whichwasalso

basedonthe500ELandfirstused

onApollo8 in December1968.

DevelopedforboththeApollo

andSkylabprograms,theHEC

wasknownat Hasselbladasthe

“standardspacecamera”and

wasusedontheMoonmissions

toshootfrominsidethelunar

module.Thisbodywasfittedwith

a ZeissPlanar80mmf2.8lens.

TheHEC’sbodyandthelensbarrel

wererepaintedwithananodised

matteblackflashtominimise

reflectionswhenshootingthrough

thewindowofa spacecraft.

Incidentally,a thirdHECwas

usedontheApollo 11 mission,

butremainedaboardtheorbiting

commandmoduleandwasused

witha Sonnar250mmf5.6short

telephotolens.

FirstFlight

Hasselblad’slongrelationshipwith

NASAdatedbacktotheearlier

Mercuryprogramwhenastronaut

WallySchirra,whoowneda 500C,

thoughtit lookeda lotlikethe

camerathatthespaceagencywas

planningtobuildfromscratch.

Afterheexclaimed,“That’s

startingtolooka lotlikemy

Hasselblad”,thedesignteam

visiteda Houstoncamerastore

anddecidedtheSwedishcamera

makerhadalreadydonea lotof

thegroundworkforthem.A 500C

wassubsequentlypurchasedand

modifiedforoperationin zero

gravityaswellashavingnumerous

componentsremovedtoreduce

theweight,includingthemirror

boxandfocusingscreen.As

Hasselbladover-engineeredits

camerastooptimisedurability,

NASA’stechniciansevenmilledoff

excessmetalfromvariousparts

ofthebodyshelltosaveprecious

grams.Atthetime,Hasselblad

describedthestripped-down500C

as“theworld’smostexpensive

boxcamera”.

A newfilmmagazinewas

designedtoallowfor 100

framesinsteadoftheusual12.

Topreventthefilmmagazines

beingaccidentallyopened,the

latcheswereremovedandthe

coversscrewedshut.Infact,the

magazinescouldonlybeopened

byNASAengineersontheground

usinga dedicatedtool.

Zeissconducteda rangeof

experimentstodeterminewhether

theopticalcharacteristicsoflenses

changedwhentheywereusedin

a vacuum.Thespacelenseswere

alsomodifiedwiththeflashsync

connector,depth-of-fieldpreview

leverandtimerswitchallremoved.

Thefocusingringwasmodifiedto

givea bettergripandfeel.

ThefirstNASAHasselbladwas

blastedintospaceon3 October

1962 aboardtheMercury-Atlas 8

rocketandsubsequentlyorbited

theearthsixtimesin theSigma 7

capsule,whichwaspilotedby

Shirra.Photographywasoneof

themission’stwonon-scientific

experimentsandthecamera

provedtobea greatsuccess,

ensuringHasselblad’sfuture

involvementin NASAspace

programsthroughtotheSpace

Shuttlemissionsfrom 1981 to

Buzz Aldrin descends the Eagle’s ladder to

take his first steps on the Moon.

MOON LANDING 5O

th

ANNIVERSARY

T Also based on the 500EL, the
Hasselblad Electric Camera (HEC)
was used to shoot from inside
the lunar module and was painted
matte black to avoid reflections in
the lander module’s windows.