NASA Photography: Pre- and Post-Moon Landing of 1969

The intersection between art and science has always been noticed but was dismissed at a glance. Often, society placed photography in only science or art without overlaps. Yet, the growth in astrophotography since the 1940s has begun a revolutionary process demonstrating the allure of astrophotography to both the field of science and the average human. Humans since the 20th century have been gifted a profound perspective of our world that’s never been seen before. Two dominant images that forever altered the course and ideals of celestial photography are Earthrise and Whole Earth. Both images are recognized as important representations of human advancement in technology. However, they have been interpreted differently: each image provides a contrasting perspective on how humans understand nature. Scientific or aesthetic, the knowledge of astrophotography has grown further than humans ever anticipated.

History of Astrophotography and First Captured Celestial Images

The development and beginning of astrophotography in the 20th century are often secondary to the overarching technical and mechanical achievements that led a front to explore the cosmos with extraterrestrial technology. Yet, the idea is that astrophotography typically focuses on the capturing of the stars, the sun, and moons on camera; and has grown to become an important development, especially at NASA. The first-ever image captured in outer space of the Earth was on October 24th, 1946 by a V-2 missile with a 35 mm camera designed by Clyde Holliday at John Hopkins University. [1] According to Robert Poole, the idea of photography defended the reasoning for exploration. This grew from the 1870s and the photography of nature, like that of Yellowstone and other national parks. [2] Therefore, the photograph Earthrise captured by Apollo 8 in 1968, is a prime example of a political agenda defending the US’s manifest destiny to expand and demonstrate the foundation the US had established in a time of a rocky political world. [3] This unstable political climate was due to the United States being in the Cold War with the USSR to defeat communism. Since the Cold War was a proxy war, this led to massive technological advancements within the countries to assert dominance. One result was the Space Race to the moon. Through NASA’s extraterrestrial developments, the United States allowed an intersection between the worlds of politics, science, and photography to depict the importance and beginning of astrophotography.

The Beginning and Advancement of Photography Capturing Space

Apollo 8’s mission began an age of transformation and advancement in both exploring our cosmos and capturing what’s never been seen before. The second image of the Earth taken from the Earth’s atmosphere came more than a decade after the 1946 V-2 Missile. [4] Launched in 1968, Apollo 8 captured the second image of Earth, Earthrise, spurring greater involvement by NASA in utilizing feedback from scientists and engineers to generate and invent better cameras for astronauts to capture celestial objects. When launching Apollo 11 to the moon in 1969, there was immense pressure on NASA to succeed because of the occurring Space Race with the USSR. [5]

Apollo 11’s Photography

The astronauts of Apollo 11 were equipped and sent with three camera systems. The crew carried 16mm, 35mm, and 70 mm; all handheld cameras with colored Kodak film. [6] NASA worked with Kodak at this time to develop film that captures the composition because of the absence of an atmospheric filter affecting the way light develops on film. Therefore, the film used for the Apollo 11 crew was designed to have a special high resolution to guarantee the development of the color. At this time, the astronauts captured the most modern version of the lunar surface. Never seen before by man was the image of an otherworldly setting. [7] NASA’s success in not only sending men but also having them return safely confirmed the drastic overturn that had taken place in technology in the 20th century. To not only send a man to space but also have the accessibility to capture what was seen in the expedition gave great headway and victory to the US in the Space Race, while opening doors globally for what can be achieved in artistic and scientific technologies.

Art’s Introduction to the Advancing World of Astrophotography

The intersection of photography, art, and scientific research reflects the human interaction with nature and which prominent features become depicted and recognized globally. In the early years of NASA’s astrophotography, there was a recognized transition from individuals capturing the cosmos to working in laboratories developing innovative technologies for collecting celestial data. Established in 1942 was the Lewis Photography Lab. The convergence of this lab brought together the two opposing mediums of art and science by having technicians, engineers, and photographers understand the value held within astrophotography. Together, the collective group created the National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics (NACA) under NASA. NASA began engineering new cameras to accumulate images of solar and lunar objects that the human eye could not see. [8] As they continued to develop cameras through the decades, there were always two repetitive traits that stood out: the continuation of strong sharpness and the depth of field. These two traits gave scientists and data collectors access to explore the celestial world's nature to its fullest extent.

The Earth’s Environment Through Astrophotography

"Blue Marble" from Apollo 17

The snapshot of Earthrise by Apollo 8 gave a direct representation and response from humans as it was released publicly on Christmas Eve in 1968. The image demonstrates the importance of depth of field in the lunar foreground as Earth becomes seen from a clear distance. Despite the distance from Earth in the background, the sharpness from the camera is depicted in the vibrancy of the nautical blue in the depths of the sea or the paleness in the clouds spiraling over the continents. At the same time, people’s responses to the photograph came from all across the world. The lunar landscape of the world was a perspective never seen before and grew in response to the unfamiliar notion of the health of our environment. Two years later, after the public release of this image, the first Earth Day was celebrated to create awareness and fight for scientific research to be conducted to preserve our world. As the Earth is recognized in the public domain, the lunar landscape had unlocked what had been unknown to scientists: the reality of the moon's surface. Earthrise is a complex photo with countless uses across the public to NASA. Similar to Earthrise is the image Whole Earth captured by Apollo 17. It was released four years after in 1972 to the public, this picture stimulated an avant-garde movement and how Americans perceived the world. Whole Earth represents the shifting focus from the Western focus and expectations to Africa and Antarctica. As this picture decenters the United States, and allows for a focal point to be recognized with the surrounding environments. Especially since this was the first ever image captured of the entire planet, representation of foreign climates are recognized for being equally important. These photographs represent the beginning of recognition of our world’s environment and how scientists collect data from an otherworldly perspective.[i] This allowed photography to become an honorable career for capturing the hidden and uncharted scenes of the world and moon that forever altered the science of nature.

Conclusion

Today, astronauts are taught scientific and engineering skills, but also the importance of capturing an image. Photography has appeared in the scientific world, allowing the value of this field to grow drastically and become a necessity. Art was once viewed for only practicality, then the beauty of life; astrophotography enlightens the mind to use photography for both purposes without one demeaning another. Not only do cameras travel to space for the capturing of celestial objects, but art itself has been sent out in Voyager 1 and 2. The ‘Golden Record’ reflects the comprehensionand records to preserve human nature in a catastrophic event of the race. In these images, astrophotography is included, letting whoever finds the record understand the progress humans have made and how we reached beyond our planet in the solar system, demonstrating the irony and the contemporary importance of preserving photography within space. The value of photography is not only presented in human nature photography. Since 1978, the world's turning first stopped with one click in the image Earthrise. This image depicts the environment and current state of the world, letting viewers understand the realization. The movement Mission to Planet has grown from Earthrise, a contemporary movement that actively continues to conserve and push for a healthier climate of our planet, including the international acknowledgment of Earth Day. NASA releasing this historical piece revealed the astro-photographic world becoming surreal. Astrophotography allows humans to understand the universe and what is beyond us, our environment, and our planet. Photographing the cosmos is the never-ending curiosity of minds and the capturing of eternal beauty until our sun burns out.

Endnotes

[1] JFK Library “Space Program.”

[2] “Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth,” Choice Reviews Online 46, no. 07 (March 1, 2009): 46–3820.

[3] Maher, Neil. “Neil Maher on Shooting the Moon.” Environmental History 9, no. 3 (2004): 526–31.

[4] Houston, “On This Day in Space History, the First Photo Is Taken From Space,” October 24th, 2019. 

[5] Staff, “Photographing Apollo 11.”

[6] Maher, “Neil Maher on Shooting the Moon.”

[7] Maher, “Neil Maher on Shooting the Moon.”

[8] Bowman, A. (2024, June 28). Early Years at NASA Glenn: A pictorial history. NASA.

[9] Maher, Neil, “Whole Earth Without Borders”, (ch. 15 pg. 192-201), October 2018, 2019.

All featured images are in the public domain, courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).