subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 20 July 2019 25
On July 20, 1969, a collective dream became reality, with a footprint symbolizing this achievement: on that day, man set foot on the Moon for the first
time. The limits of what seemed possible were now redefined. When the ambition was set to send a man to the Moon and return safe back to Earth,
many people helped to make this dream of mankind come true. Thousands of engineers and technicians throughout all disciplines and countries got
involved. ZEISS became part of this challenge: camera lenses specially designed for space captured the iconic images of this monumental achievement.
eventually spending 30 years
documenting space programs. He
effectively became an insider at
NASA, which gave him unique
access to the agency’s projects and
people. So much so that astronaut
John Glenn dubbed Morse ‘the
eighth astronaut’, referring to
how closely Morse shadowed and
photographed the training of the
seven Project Mercury astronauts.
Morse was also notable for his
inventions and the innovative ways
he captured the development of
NASA’s increasingly complex
activities. For rocket launches
he shot double exposures, used
infrared cameras, worked with
motion detectors and rigged up
remote cameras so that he could
photograph the rockets close up.The coverage of NASA’s space
missions also extended to the likes
of legendary sports photographer
Neil Leifer, street photographer
Garry Winogrand and the
photojournalists Lawrence Schiller
and Flip Schulke. Both Leifer and
Winogrand were on the ground
at the Kennedy Space Center in
Florida to shoot the launch of
Apollo 11 on 16 July 1969.In-house photography
Of NASA’s in-house operations
Piers Bizony reveals, ‘The agency
had major photo and image
archiving operations at almost all of
its “field centres”, such as Houston
and the Kennedy launch complex.
Today these operations have been
massively scaled back because thebudgets are no longer there to run
them. Although NASA still has huge
reserves of legacy material, I have
often relied on private citizen
collectors for rare “behind-the-
scenes at NASA” materials that were
once easily obtainable from NASA.’
As well as behind-the-scenes
images shot by magazine
photographers and the stunning
space images shot by astronauts,
NASA has employed only two key
in-house photographers since its
inception. Bizony explains, ‘In the
1960s Bill Taub took most of the
famous shots of astronauts getting
ready for missions. Today, Bill
Ingalls, a similarly talented
photographer, does that job.’
Although Taub’s images were
rarely credited by name he wasAbove: Apollo 1
crew members Gus
Grissom (middle,
centre), Roger
Chaffee (second
from right) and Ed
White (extreme
right) relax during
‘water egress’
training at the
Manned Spacecraft
Center, Houston,
June 1966. Behind
the scenes their
dissatisfaction with
the design of the
Apollo 1 spacecraft
was made evident
when Grissom hung
a lemon over the
Command Module
simulator in protest