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Celebrating the first ever space moon walk on Apollo 11 40th Anniversary.
Ever since their first journey into space on October 3,1962, as part of the U.S. Space Program, Hasselblad cameras have captured thousands of breathtaking images that have given us a clearer perspective of our world and its surroundings.
Forty years ago this week, on July 16, 1969, Hasselblad cameras joined NASA’s Apollo 11 crew for the first manned moon landing, capturing images that remain among the most recognizable ever recorded.
To paraphrase astronaut Neil Armstrong, who took the first lunar photos: “This ‘small step for man’ proved to be a giant leap for photography.”
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) emerged in some measure because of the pressures of national defense during the cold war with the Soviet Union, a broad contest over the ideologies and allegiances of the nonaligned nations of the world in which space exploration emerged as a major area of contest. From the latter 1940s, the Department of Defense pursued research and rocketry and upper atmospheric sciences as a means of assuring American leadership in technology. A major step forward came when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a plan to orbit a scientific satellite as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) for the period, 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958, a cooperative effort to gather scientific data about the Earth. The Soviet Union quickly followed suit, announcing plans to orbit its own satellite.
A full-scale political crisis broke out on 4 October 1957 when the Soviets launched Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite as its IGY entry. This had a "Pearl Harbor" effect on American public opinion, creating an illusion of a technological gap.
As a direct result of this crisis, NASA began operations on 1 October 1958, absorbing into it the earlier National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics intact; its 8,000 employees, an annual budget of $100 million, three major research laboratories—Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory—and two smaller test facilities. It quickly incorporated other organizations into the new agency, notably the space science group of the Naval Research Laboratory in Maryland, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory managed by the California Institute of Technology for the Army, and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama, where Wernher von Braun’s team of engineers were engaged in the development of large rockets. Eventually NASA created other Centers and today it has ten located around the country.
NASA began to conduct space missions within months of its creation, and in its 40 years has made historic achievements in many areas of aeronautics and space research. Most well-known of its efforts are the human space flight initiatives. These began with Projects Mercury and Gemini in the 1960s, hit a major highlight with the lunar landings of Project Apollo, continued on in the 1970s with Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and then carried on to the Space Shuttle program in the 1980s and 1990s. Space science programs have included missions to our Moon and all the planets in our solar system except Pluto. In Earth science, remote-sensing satellites such as Landsat and meteorological spacecraft have helped scientists understand the complex interactions between ecological systems on Earth. NASA’s aeronautics research has helped to enhance air transport safety, reliability, efficiency, and speed through such programs as the X-15, lifting bodies, and general aviation.
Since its inception in 1958, NASA has accomplished many great scientific and technological feats. NASA technology has been adapted for many non-aerospace uses by the private sector. At its 40th anniversary, NASA remains a leading force in scientific research and in stimulating public interest in aerospace exploration, as well as science and technology in general. Perhaps more importantly, our exploration of space has taught us to view the Earth, ourselves, and the universe in a new way. While the tremendous technical and scientific accomplishments of NASA demonstrate vividly that humans can achieve previously inconceivable feats, we also are humbled by the realization that Earth is just a tiny "blue marble" in the cosmos.
Ever since their first journey into space on October 3,1962, as part of the U.S. Space Program, Hasselblad cameras have captured thousands of breathtaking images that have given us a clearer perspective of our world and its surroundings.Forty years ago this week, on July 16, 1969, Hasselblad cameras joined NASA’s Apollo 11 crew for the first manned moon landing, capturing images that remain among the most recognizable ever recorded.
To paraphrase astronaut Neil Armstrong, who took the first lunar photos: “This ‘small step for man’ proved to be a giant leap for photography.”
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) emerged in some measure because of the pressures of national defense during the cold war with the Soviet Union, a broad contest over the ideologies and allegiances of the nonaligned nations of the world in which space exploration emerged as a major area of contest. From the latter 1940s, the Department of Defense pursued research and rocketry and upper atmospheric sciences as a means of assuring American leadership in technology. A major step forward came when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a plan to orbit a scientific satellite as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) for the period, 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958, a cooperative effort to gather scientific data about the Earth. The Soviet Union quickly followed suit, announcing plans to orbit its own satellite.A full-scale political crisis broke out on 4 October 1957 when the Soviets launched Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite as its IGY entry. This had a "Pearl Harbor" effect on American public opinion, creating an illusion of a technological gap.
As a direct result of this crisis, NASA began operations on 1 October 1958, absorbing into it the earlier National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics intact; its 8,000 employees, an annual budget of $100 million, three major research laboratories—Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory—and two smaller test facilities. It quickly incorporated other organizations into the new agency, notably the space science group of the Naval Research Laboratory in Maryland, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory managed by the California Institute of Technology for the Army, and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama, where Wernher von Braun’s team of engineers were engaged in the development of large rockets. Eventually NASA created other Centers and today it has ten located around the country.
NASA began to conduct space missions within months of its creation, and in its 40 years has made historic achievements in many areas of aeronautics and space research. Most well-known of its efforts are the human space flight initiatives. These began with Projects Mercury and Gemini in the 1960s, hit a major highlight with the lunar landings of Project Apollo, continued on in the 1970s with Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and then carried on to the Space Shuttle program in the 1980s and 1990s. Space science programs have included missions to our Moon and all the planets in our solar system except Pluto. In Earth science, remote-sensing satellites such as Landsat and meteorological spacecraft have helped scientists understand the complex interactions between ecological systems on Earth. NASA’s aeronautics research has helped to enhance air transport safety, reliability, efficiency, and speed through such programs as the X-15, lifting bodies, and general aviation.
Since its inception in 1958, NASA has accomplished many great scientific and technological feats. NASA technology has been adapted for many non-aerospace uses by the private sector. At its 40th anniversary, NASA remains a leading force in scientific research and in stimulating public interest in aerospace exploration, as well as science and technology in general. Perhaps more importantly, our exploration of space has taught us to view the Earth, ourselves, and the universe in a new way. While the tremendous technical and scientific accomplishments of NASA demonstrate vividly that humans can achieve previously inconceivable feats, we also are humbled by the realization that Earth is just a tiny "blue marble" in the cosmos.
1 comments:
Yes a giant step. Your blog is very nice. The photographs are very beautiful. Wish you all the best. God is Great.
http://foto-tricks.blogspot.com
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