WELLENREITER
WELLENREITER A photograph is the result of an interplay between physical and chemical processes and the subject in front of the camera. The technical challenges posed by space photography are particularly obvious in these early astronomical pictures.
The First Early Years of Radio Transmitted Pictures Rapid technological advances in the 1920s paved the way for electronic transmission of images by cable and radio. In 1946 an adapted German V2 rocket equipped with scientific instruments and an automatic 35mm motion picture camera (instead of the usual explosives) took off from White Sands, New Mexico, taking photographs of Earth at a record‑breaking altitude of 65 miles above the ground. These were the first images of our planet to be taken from space. This venture was a significant step towards bringing humans into space and back again. In April 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the Earth. Later that year, automatic cameras travelling on-board the Mercury‑Atlas 5 along with chimpanzee Enos captured the Earth in color. In March 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov conducted the first spacewalk in history, filmed by a camera he attached to the outside of the ship. Back on Earth, black and white film stills were printed and broadcast around the globe. These technically raw pictures continue to have a visual impact. They are comparable to Capa’s D-Day photos printed from injured negatives in that the materiality of these historic pictures link them indelibly to the time and place of their making. In comparison, the technically brilliant color pictures of Ed White’s spacewalk the same year are almost too picturesque to be truly exciting. All of the above photographs were printed from negative film brought back to Earth. On October 7, 1955 the Russian probe Luna 3 had already radioed back to Earth the first ever glimpse of the Moon’s far side in the form of mysterious black and white grainy images. Luna 9 (1966) transmitted not only the first ever photo taken on the surface of the Moon but also the first panoramic picture and, incidentally, the first self-portrait in space.
Some of these photographs are impossible to decipher without additional information. The few photos Luna 3 managed to take of the Moon‘s far side and send back to Earth are of very high contrast and low quality. They look more like 1950’s Abstract Expressionist paintings than photos of the Moon. These graphic images were our first glimpse of the other side of our friend in space, whom until this moment we had only seen from one perspective. Mission Ranger gave us photographic evidence of the first artificial intelligence suicide in space, when one after the other the spacecrafts crashed on the moon, while radioing back picture after picture until impact. Maybe NASA scientists had the famous Méliès image of a rocket sticking in the Moon’s squinting eye in mind when they conceived the Ranger missions. On July 14, 1965, four years before man set foot on the moon, Mariner IV radioed the first close-up images of Mars back to Earth. The area shown is fittingly named Elysium. In August 1966 Lunar Orbiter I started to systematically photograph the Moon‘s surface. All four Lunar Orbiter missions were to cover almost the entire surface in incredible detail. The onboard camera system functioned almost like a passport photo machine. The exposed negative film was developed in a heated chamber, scanned and radioed back to earth. Some of the most magical and esoteric photographic pictures have been created as by-products of 20th Century scientific space missions. Many of these pictures are the visual manifestation of historic events. Airbrush, crop marks or writing on front and back sometimes add to the Zeitgeist of these objects. Early on, these particular pictures had already been recognised as significant fragments of our post-WWII history. This booklet is published on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of man’s first step on another heavenly body.
2. American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (AT&T), May 19, 1924 “Photo Phoned in Five Minutes! Cleveland, Ohio, the High Level Bridge Over Cuyahoga River� (One of the earliest successfully wire transmitted and received photos)
3. Unidentified Photographer, 1926, “John Logie Baird on TV, Early Example of Television Transmission in London”
4. René Barthélémy, February 1930, “Rugby Game” (Very early example of radio transmitted and recieved photograph by Belinograph)
5. White Sands Missile Range, V2 Rocket, 1946, “Photo of Earth from the Thermosphere Taken by a Camera Attached to a V2 Rocket” ► 6. Roskosmos · Luna 3, October 7, 1959, “First Picture of the Far Side of the Moon”
7. NASA · Mariner IV, July 14, 1965 “Man’s First Close-Up Photograph of Mars Showing Elysium”
8. NASA · Ranger VIII, February 20, 1965, “The Moment of Impact at Mare Cognitum. Television Picture Transmitted by Ranger VIII” (First close-up picture of the Moon’s surface)
◄ 9. NASA · Surveyor I, June 13, 1966, “Moon Surface, Day 164” (Surveyor I, USA’s first successful Lunar Lander touched down on June 2, 1966) 10. NASA · Surveyor VI, November 21, 1967, “Moon Surface, Day 325”
11. NASA · Surveyor I, June 2, 1966 “Surveyor I (Foot no. 3)” (First American picture transmitted from the surface of the Moon)
12. Roskosmos · Zond 3, July 20, 1965, “The Moon’s Far Side Photographed on the Way to Mars”
13. NASA · Surveyor III, April 30, 1967 “First Color Photo of Crescent Earth Taken from the Moon”
14. NASA · Surveyor III, April 24, 1967, “The First Solar Eclipse Seen from the Moon”
15. NASA · Orbiter V, August 8, 1967, “First Photo Taken from Space of Full Earth”
16. NASA · Orbiter II, November 23, 1966 “Floor of Copernicus Crater”
17. Roskosmos · Luna 9, February 3, 1966, “View of the Ocean Of Storms” (The First Picture Taken on the Moon) ► 18. NASA · Orbiter I, August 25, 1966, “Second Photo of Earth as Seen from Lunar Orbit”
19. NASA · Orbiter I, August 23, 1966, “Earth Rise Over the Moon” (First photo of Earth as seen from Lunar Orbit)
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20. Roskosmos · Luna 9, February 3, 1966, “First Photograph and Panorama Taken on the Moon”
21. Roskosmos · Luna 17, February 7, 1971, “Tire Tracks from Lunokhod 1 on the Moon’s Surface”
22. NASA · Orbiter V, 1967 “The Far Side of Our Moon from Censorinus to Littrow”
23. NASA · Orbiter V, 1967 “The Moon” ► 24. NASA · Apollo XI, July 20, 1969 “Aldrin and Armstrong Setting Up the American Flag” (Live transmission still of the first men on the Moon)
25. NASA · Viking Orbiter I, 1979 “A Snow Covered Polar Cap of Mars”
26. NASA · Viking Orbiter II, July 1976, “Mars, Water-Ice Clouds Trail from Ascraeus Mons”
27. NASA · Viking II, September 25, 1977 “Viking Lander II on Mars” (Frost on Mars)
28. NASA · Viking Lander I, July 21, 1976, “First Color Photo Taken on Mars, Chryse Planitia” (First photograph taken on another planet, color calibrated to Earth atmospheric conditions)
29. NASA · Viking Lander I, August 20, 1976 “Sunset Over Chryse Planitia on Mars” (First picture of a sunset on another planet)
30. NASA · Voyager I, December 10/11, 1978, “Jupiter”
31. NASA · Voyager II, July 3, 1979 “Jupiter ‘The Red Spot’” ► 32. NASA · Voyager II, 1981, “The Outer Planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto”
33. NASA · Voyager II, July 1979, “Jupiter in Silhouette”
34. Roskosmos, March 3, 1982, “Venera 13 Lander - First Photo Taken on Venus� (View of Venus behind Lander)
INDEX
6. Roskosmos · Luna 3 “First Picture of the Far Side of the Moon”, October 7, 1959, (Detail) silver gelatin print on
1. Unidentified Photographer
glossy fibre paper, printed c. 1959,
“TV Still of the Live Broadcast on July 20, 1969
17,7 (18,6/25,8) x 12,2 (13/22) cm, (6050)
of the Apollo XI Landing on the Moon”, July 20, 1969, color print on matte paper, printed in
7. NASA · Mariner IV
1969, 7,9 (8,9) x 7,9 (8,9) cm, (10315)
“Man’s First Close-Up Photograph of Mars Showing Elysium”, July 14, 1965, silver gelatin
2. American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (AT&T )
print on glossy fibre paper, printed July 1965,
“Photo Phoned in Five Minutes! Cleveland, Ohio,
20,0 (20,8) x 17,01(20,5) cm, (10282)
the High Level Bridge Over Cuyahoga River”, May 19, 1924, silver gelatin print on semi matte
8. NASA · Ranger VIII
fibre paper, printed by May 19, 1924,
“The Moment of Impact at Mare Cognitum.
10,3 x 15,8 cm, (9704)
Television Picture Transmitted by Ranger VIII”, February 20, 1965, silver gelatin print on glossy
3. Unidentified Photographer
fibre paper, printed c. 1965,
“John Logie Baird on TV, Early Example of
24,2 (25,4) x 19,5 (20,4) cm, (7783)
Television Transmission in London”, 1926, silver gelatin print on glossy fibre paper, printed by May
9. NASA · Surveyor I
19, 1926, 20,3 (21,5) x 15,5 (16,5) cm, (9871)
“Moon Surface, Day 164”, June 13, 1966, (Detail) collage of silver gelatin prints inscribed with ink
4. René Barthélémy
and stapled to a blueprint, printed June 1966,
“Rugby Game”, February 1930, Cyanotype,
35,7 (75,5) x 30,8 (34,3) cm, (3382)
printed in February 1930, 10,3 x 13,4 cm, (2471) 10. NASA · Surveyor VI 5. White Sands Missile Range, V2 Rocket
“Moon Surface, Day 325”, November 21, 1967,
“Photo of Earth from the Thermosphere Taken by
collage of gelatin silver prints inscribed with ink
a Camera Attached to a V2 Rocket”, 1946, silver
and stapled to a blueprint, printed November
gelatin print on matte fibre paper, printed by
1967, 74,3 (78,5) x 31,0 (36,8) cm, (3387)
September 2, 1953, 19,1 (20,3) x 24,1 (25,3) cm, (10116)
11. NASA · Surveyor I “Surveyor 1 (Foot no. 3)”, June 2, 1966, silver gelatin print on glossy fibre paper, printed in 1966, 25,4 (19,2) x 19,4 (20,3) cm, (10314)
12. Roskosmos · Zond 3
18. NASA · Orbiter I
“The Moon’s Far Side Photographed on the Way
“Second Photo of Earth as Seen from Lunar
to Mars”, July 20, 1965, silver gelatin print on
Orbit”, August 25, 1966, (Detail) silver gelatin
glossy fibre paper, printed in 1965,
print on matte fibre paper, printed in 1966,
18,3 (20,2) x 18,7 (25,2) cm, (6116)
45,6 x 56,3 cm, (4423)
13. NASA · Surveyor III
19. NASA · Orbiter I
“First Color Photo of Crescent Earth Taken from
“Earth Rise Over the Moon”, August 23, 1966,
the Moon”, April 30, 1967, color print on glossy
collage of two silver gelatin prints on glossy fibre
fibre paper, printed in 1967,
paper, printed in 1966,
23,9 (25,2) x 19,0 (20,2) cm, (8764)
48,2 (50,4) x 19,4 (20,5) cm, (10291)
14. NASA · Surveyor III
20. Roskosmos · Luna 9
“The First Solar Eclipse Seen From the Moon”,
“First Photograph and Panorama Taken on the
April 24, 1967, color print on glossy fibre paper,
Moon”, February 3, 1966, (Detail) 7 silver gelatin
printed in 1967, 23,9 (25,2) x 19,1 (20,2) cm,
prints on semi-glossy fibre paper, printed by
(8765)
February 5, 1966, each c. 16,9 (20,8) x 26,5 (27,8) cm, (10239 - 10245)
15. NASA · Orbiter V “First Photo Taken from Space of Full Earth”,
21. Roskosmos · Luna 17
August 8, 1967, (Detail) silver gelatin print on
“Tire Tracks from Lunokhod 1 on the Moon’s
matte fibre paper, printed in 1967,
Surface”, February 7, 1971, collage of three silver
55,9 x 47,8 cm, (4496)
gelatin prints on semi-glossy fibre paper, printed in 1971, 14,0 x 65,7 cm, (10247)
16. NASA · Orbiter II “Floor of Copernicus Crater”, November 23,
22. NASA · Orbiter V
1966, silver gelatin print on glossy fibre paper,
“The Far Side of Our Moon from Censorius to
printed c. 1966, 23,9 (25,2) x 19 (20,2), (10295)
Littrow”, 1967, (Detail) original collage of three silver gelatin prints on matte fibre paper, printed
17. Roskosmos · Luna 9
by October 2, 1967, 42,5 (48,0) x 49,7 (56,3) cm,
“View of the Ocean Of Storms (The First Picture
(10293)
Taken on the Moon)”, February 3, 1966, silver gelatin print on matte fibre paper, printed by
23. NASA · Orbiter V
February 5, 1966, 29,8 x 30,8 cm, (10246)
“The Moon”, 1967, original collage of three silver gelatin prints on matte fibre paper, printed in 1967, 42,0 (46,0) x 47,6 (51,6) cm, (10294)
24. NASA · Apollo XI
30. NASA · Voyager I
“Aldrin and Armstrong Setting Up the American
“Jupiter”, December 10/11, 1978,
Flag”, July 20, 1969, (Detail) silver gelatin print
silver gelatin print on glossy fibre paper, printed
on glossy fibre paper, printed in 1969,
in 1978/79, 23,7 x 25,2 cm, (3864)
19,2 (20,3) x 24,1 (25,9) cm, (10290) 31. NASA · Voyager II 25. NASA · Viking Orbiter I
“Jupiter ‘The Red Spot’”, July 3, 1979, JPL
“A Snow Covered Polar Cap of Mars”, 1979,
presentation color print on fibre paper, printed in
collage of 12 silver gelatin prints on matte PE
1979,75,2 x 79,0 cm, (3367)
fibre paper, printed in 1979, 20,7 (40,6) x 43,4 (101) cm, (5405)
32. NASA · Voyager II “The Outer Planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus,
26. NASA · Viking Orbiter II
Neptune and Pluto”, 1979-81, (Detail) varnished
“Mars, Water-Ice Clouds Trail from Ascraeus
dye transfer print on original mount, printed by
Mons”, July 1976, coated dye transfer print on
June 1981, 46,8 x 59,8 cm, (10284)
fibre paper, printed in the 1970s, 25,2 x 20 cm, (8355)
33. NASA · Voyager II “Jupiter in Silhouette”, July 1979, (Detail)
27. NASA · Viking II
varnished dye transfer print on original mount,
“Viking Lander II on Mars”, September 25, 1977,
printed by June 1981, 50,4 x 40,1 cm, (10283)
color print on semi-matte fibre paper, printed in 1977, 24,1 (25,6) x 9,8 (20,2) cm, (8768)
34. Roskosmos “Venera 13 Lander - First Photo Taken on Venus”,
28. NASA · Viking Lander I
March 3, 1982, silver gelatin print on glossy fibre
“First Color Photo Taken on Mars, Chryse
paper, printed c. 1982, 15,3 x 51,6 cm, (2454)
Planitia”, July 21, 1976, color print on matte paper, printed by July 21, 1976, 20,8 x 25,0 cm,
35. NASA · Voyager II
(10316)
“Saturn and two of his Satellites Dione and Enceladus”, August 11, 1981, color print, printed
29. NASA · Viking Lander I “Sunset Over Chryse Planitia on Mars”, August 18, 1976, (Detail) JPL presentation color print on fibre paper on original masonite mount, printed in 1976, 73,7 x 101,5 cm, (3361)
in 1981, 24,5 (25,7) x 19,3 (20,2) cm, (2599)
35. NASA · Voyager II, August 11, 1981, “Saturn and two of his Satellites Dione and Enceladus”
Daniel Blau Maximilianstraße 26 80539 Munich contact@danielblau.com + 49 (0) 89 29 73 42 www.danielblau.com Printed and bound by Pelo-Druck Lohner oHG Paper content: Offset 50 g/m2 Paper cover: Olin, Rough, cream, 200g/m2 ISBN: 978-3-00-063885-5 AUTHOR AND EDITOR Daniel Blau LAYOUT Christiane Wunsch PROOF READING AND EDITING Carrie Foulkes COPYRIGHT This Publication © Daniel Blau All illustrations except #1-6, #12 #17, #20, #21, #34 © NASA, Courtesy Daniel Blau, Munich # 1,3: © Unidenitfied Photographer, Courtesy Daniel Blau, Munich # 2: © American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (AT&T), Courtesy Daniel Blau, Munich # 4: © René Barthélémy, Courtesy Daniel Blau, Munich # 5: © White Sands Missile Range, V2 Rocket, Courtesy Daniel Blau, Munich # 6,12,17,20,21,34: © Roskosmos, Courtesy Daniel Blau, Munich All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the editor.
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