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

exaMINING the ICONIC aND reDISCOVerING the phOtOGraphY Of 311
SpaCe expLOratION IN CONtext tO the hIStOrY Of phOtOGraphY
compared to paul riedel’s industrial image of a NaSa tIG welder in the clean
room of the technical Services building at the former Lewis research Center. 59
here a high tech welder in 1963 is similarly goggled however he is welding
metallic objects by (safely) inserting his hands through protective gloves that
securely enter a closed protective chamber. In both images each photographer
discovers and frames a kind of unity between laborer and place of labor.
by comparing hine’s iconic 1920 staged portrait of a powerhouse mechanic
to a 1964 NaSa technician working on a “9 thruster ion engine array” furthers
both the notion of unity and juxtaposition of laborer and place of labor. 60
these four images convey a sense of aesthetics in which a discovered
harmony exits in the very choreography of the subject matter. as a result, the
visual harmony between worker, workplace, and the labor itself is a useful
foundation for viewing and analyzing labor-related imagery from the archives
of NaSa’s various space centers.
My photographic documentation of NaSa’s labor force has its roots in the
writing of the author Studs terkel. terkel’s Working (based on oral interviews)
provides both a narrative and intellectual framework for examining NaSa as a
labor force. 61 to be sure, there are the engineers who, piece by piece, have preassembled
every screw and electrical connection to all the parts of the ISS. then
there are the technicians who for the last 27 years have repaired and replaced
tiles on shuttle orbiters. and there are the technicians who check, replace and
check again the Space Shuttle’s hydraulics and avionics. In any given Center on
any given day, there exist countless photographic opportunities to document
the labor force. those men and women who work behind the scenes day-to-day.
they are the laborers who make space exploration possible. terkel understood
the importance of the work that goes on behind-the-scenes in america. he
celebrated that work and noted that it often goes unrecognized. In his book,
Working, terkel interviewed a steel worker, Mike Le fevre:
It’s not just the work. Somebody built the pyramids.
Somebody’s going to build something. pyramids. empire
State building—these things just don’t happen. there’s hard
work behind it. I would like to see a building—say the empire
State, I would like to see on one side of it a foot wide strip
from top to bottom with the name of every brick layerer, the
59. See Glenn research Center GrC Image Net C-1963-63814:“tIG welder located in the clean
room of the technical services building tSb – the inert gas welding facility is used for welding
refractory metals in connection with the Columbium Liquid Sodium Loop project.”
60. See Glenn research Center GrC Image Net C-1964-71003: “9 thruster ion engine array in
tank 6 at the electrical propulsion Laboratory epL.”
61. Studs terkel, Working – People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What
They Do (New York, NY:the New press, 1972).