Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

300 reMeMberING the SpaCe aGe
Of historic interest then is the in-fight photography by the Gemini crews
(1965–66). 42 here the snapshot-like photographs that James McDivitt made of
ed White during the frst american eVa (from one of the open twin hatches of
Gemini 4) is among the iconic images of american human spacefight. however,
what has not been uncovered are the photographs that White made with a 35 mm
Zeiss Contarex camera mounted on his handheld mini propulsion system. 43 by in
large, these photographs should document his perspective of the Gemini capsule
with both capsule doors open and his snapshots of his colleague James McDivitt.
Of aesthetic relevance (in a snapshot sense) are the eVa images from Gemini 9
through 12. among these photographs is the partially sunlit and shadowed close up
of buzz aldrin during an eVa.the photographs’ setting is outside the open hatch
of his Gemini 12 spacecraft. James Lovell took this snapshot. Lovell’s photograph
captures an intense look in aldrin’s eyes.this image is unique because it captured
in a passing glance a quality of human vulnerability in the void of space.
perhaps the most distinctive in-fight astronaut “snapshot” photography
is the apollo 7 crew’s photography of themselves. 44 each portrait of the three
crewmembers (Wally Schirra, Donn eisele, and Walt Cunningham) was initiated
by Cunningham, who felt that they needed a souvenir from their mission.the
photographs are framed using a handheld hasselblad 70 mm camera with an
80 mm lens. Cunningham also used a handheld spot meter to measure the sunlight
entering the cabin windows.the results are not just a series of technically
accurate exposed images, but they are a series of exquisite snapshots made under
controlled conditions: the same environment, camera, lens, and quality of sunlight.
Cunningham was able to capture both a vulnerability and intensity of each
of his two crewmates. In turn, Schirra was able to capture similar qualities in his
photograph of Cunningham under the same conditions. When all three snapshots
are grouped together, the square-framed tight close-ups of Schirra, eisele,
and Cunningham ofer an unimagined glimpse—in the stark sunlight of outer
space—of three men’s faces within the tight confnes of the frst ever apollo space
mission. 45 these photographs are timeless “souvenirs” whose aesthetic relevance
42. Since project Mercury, handheld cameras have accompanied crews into space.the cameras were
initially recordkeeping tools to study earth from space. from these handheld cameras there also
resulted opportunities to capture the spontaneous moments during spacefight, both within and
outside of a spacecraft.
43. See John L. Kaltenbach, “a table and reference List Documenting Observations of the earth
from Manned earth Orbital and Suborbital Spacefight Missions Including the Unmanned
apollo-Saturn 4 and 6 Missions” (houston,tx, National aeronautics and Space administration
Lyndon b. Johnson Space Center, December 1976), http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/metadata/Apollo­
Saturn_4-6.html (accessed March 18, 2008).
44. See Lunar and planetary Institute Apollo Image Atlas–70mm Hasselblad Image catalog for apollo 7,
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/catalog/70mm/mission/?7.
45. See John L. Kaltenbach, “a table and reference List Documenting Observations of the earth
from Manned earth Orbital and Suborbital Spacefight Missions Including the Unmanned