26 02, 2023

FIRST COLOR PHOTO OF EARTH FROM SPACE – THE BERG FILM II

Jeremy Theoret2023-03-20T19:17:34+00:00Categories: Apollospace Presents, Earth, Flown, News|Tags: Dr. Otto Berg, Earth, Navy Research Laboratory, Photography|0 Comments

First Color Photo of Earth from Space (Part II):

The Mission & the Montage

The story of the first color photographs of the Earth from space continues in Otto Berg’s own words, with light edits and editorial notes. The individual Earth photos appearing here (other than Berg’s original montage) were scanned and processed from the decades old internegatives that Otto Berg produced in order to create the Earth Montage in 1954. There was significant color fading of the negatives as compared with the 16mm film itself, which will be scanned as individual frames at the highest resolution available. For now, the images appearing here are the best versions of these images available, though when the 16mm film gets scanned and the images processed, better versions will replace those currently available.

THE 1954 MONTAGE OF PLANET EARTH – continued excerpts from Berg’s unpublished autobiography, “Confessions of a Rocket Scientist” (copyright Otto Berg, date unknown, excerpted with family permission) detailing the impetus […]

6 02, 2023

FIRST COLOR PHOTO OF EARTH FROM SPACE – THE BERG FILM I

Jeremy Theoret2023-03-21T18:32:23+00:00Categories: Apollospace Presents, Earth, Flown, News|Tags: Apollo Reflections, Dr. Otto Berg, Earth, Navy Research Laboratory, Photography, Reflections Series|0 Comments

First Color Photo of Earth from Space Unearthed!

On October 5, 1954, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) launched an Aerobee sounding rocket from the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico. On board were two 16mm movie cameras peering out small holes, one with black and white film and the other with color film.

On that color 16mm film would be recorded the very first color images of Earth from space.

Berg’s Earth Mosaic – Credit: U. S. Navy / Naval Research Laboratory

On October 5, 1954, an Aerobee rocket carrying two 16 mm movie cameras (including one with color film) captured the first color images of Earth from space, including images of a tropical storm over the state of Texas. Approximately 140 […]

4 01, 2023

WALT CUNNINGHAM – IN MEMORIAM

Jeremy Theoret2023-02-28T06:03:28+00:00Categories: Astronauts|Tags: Apollo Reflections, Interview, Reflections Series, Walt Cunningham|0 Comments

Remembering Apollo 7 Astronaut Walt Cunningham (March 16, 1932 – January 3, 2023)

Walt Cunningham during our “Apollo Reflections” interview, August 30, 2018

Yesterday, we lost another giant of the Apollo program, Apollo 7 Astronaut Walt Cunningham. I had the good fortune of meeting Walt on many occasions over the years – the first time at a UACC Autograph Show in Houston, Texas in 2000. Then, as always, Walt was funny, gracious, accommodating, and friendly to all.

With Walt at UACC Autograph Show, Houston, 2000

As he was in the photograph below from the same event posing with members of the Yahoo Astronauts news group I had founded a couple of years prior, with a few familiar faces to the space memorabilia collecting community including (starting 3rd from left) myself, Walt, Steve Hankow (Farthest Reaches), Apollo 14 Astronaut Ed Mitchell, and Gerry Montague (Astronaut Archives), and […]

22 03, 2022

Earth From Space V – A Distant World

Jeremy Theoret2023-02-28T06:04:07+00:00Categories: Earth|Tags: Earth, Galileo, Moon, Voyager I|0 Comments

A Distant World

Voyager I view of Earth and Moon. Credit NASA/JPL

At top is a photograph from the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn, approximately 900 million miles from Earth, showing Earth just below the rings on July 19, 2013. Above, the first full-disk picture of both the Earth and the Moon as seen by Voyager I on September 18, 1977. Voyager 1 snapped this picture approximately 7.25 million miles from Earth. This was the first image to show both the full Earth and Moon in the same frame.

Robotic spacecraft have ventured deep into space, far more distant than human beings have yet travelled, allowing a perspective that we could previously only imagine. The Voyager I spacecraft was the first to image the Earth and Moon together on its way out to Jupiter and Saturn, the first probe to visit those planets, and now exploring interstellar space. Fifteen years later, on December 16, 1992, the Galileo spacecraft took […]

17 03, 2022

Earth From Space IV – Discovering Earth

Jeremy Theoret2023-02-28T06:04:38+00:00Categories: Earth, Moon|Tags: Apollo 8, Earth, Earthrise, Moon|0 Comments

Discovering Earth

Earthrise from Apollo 8, AS08-14-2383. Image Credit: NASA/JSC/ASU/Apollospace

“We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth” – Bill Anders, Apollo 8, “Earthrise” photographer

Above, the first photograph of an Earthrise in black and white, and moments later, the first color photograph of Earthrise as seen with human eyes.

On December 21, 1968 humanity left the comforting confines of home on a journey to Earth’s nearest neighbor. On their way, the Apollo 8 astronauts came to see all that has ever been as a thumbnail in endless space. The first photograph of the whole Earth as seen by human beings appears below. Most of South America is visible at bottom center. North America (upper left) is mostly obscured by clouds, with Florida and Mexico visible. Upper right is western Africa.

First whole Earth seen by […]

15 03, 2022

Earth From Space III – The Whole Earth

Jeremy Theoret2023-02-28T06:05:04+00:00Categories: Earth|Tags: Earth, Moon|0 Comments

The Whole Earth

ATS-1 First view of Earth and Moon from Space ATS-1 414588 (NASA)

Following the toe-dip into space provided by the early V-2 rocket photography of Earth, twenty years later, on December 7, 1966 (63 years to the day after the first flight of Kitty Hawk), the Applications Technology Satellite 1 (ATS-1) was launched – the first experimental geostationary satellite and the Earth started to take shape. The first (near) full-disk pictures of the Earth from a geostationary orbit were taken on December 11, 1966. The image above showing the Earth and Moon together in space for the first time, and below, the nearly full Earth with North America appearing upper right with the Southwest US, Mexico, and Baja California clearly visible…

ATS-1 Nearly Full Earth from Geosynchronous Orbit Dec. 11, 1966 (NASA)

But what about […]

15 03, 2022

EARTH FROM SPACE II – IN LIVING COLOR

Jeremy Theoret2023-02-28T06:05:26+00:00Categories: Earth|Tags: Earth, Otto Berg, Whites Sands|0 Comments

On October 5, 1954, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) launched an Aerobee sounding rocket from the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico. On board were two 16mm movie cameras peering out small holes, one with black and white film and the other with color film.

On October 5, 1954, an Aerobee rocket carrying two 16 mm movie cameras (including one with color film) captured the first color images of Earth from space, including images of a tropical storm over the state of Texas. 117 images from an altitude of 100 miles were used to create this photomosaic of the Earth from space in natural color for the first time. Credit: U. S. Navy / Naval Research Laboratory

When the rocket reached its maximum height of 100 miles above the Earth, the cameras began filming at a rate of 6 frames per second as the rocket […]

12 03, 2022

Earth From Space I – First Photographs From Space

Jeremy Theoret2023-02-28T06:06:20+00:00Categories: Earth|Tags: Earth, swords into plowshares, V-2, Whites Sands|0 Comments

First Photograph of Earth from Space, 1946

First photo of the Earth from Space. Image Credit: Department of Defense, Department of the Army 1946

When I think about space, I think of Earth. The pinnacle of the space program has been seeing the Earth from space and gaining a perspective of our place in the universe impossible otherwise. By reaching for the heavens, we came to see ourselves. We found home. The first image of Earth from space stands as a crowning achievement of humankind’s quest for understanding, borne, ironically, from humanity’s darkest nature.

During World War II, Germany developed the V-2 rocket to rain terror and death upon Britain. When the war ended in 1945, the United States captured hundreds of the V-2s and brought them back to the United States and White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico for testing.

On October 24, 1946, the US Army launched a V-2 that carried a 35mm […]

13 08, 2021

APOLLOSPACE FOCUSING ON “APOLLO REFLECTIONS”

Jeremy Theoret2022-03-12T18:47:33+00:00Categories: Films, Gemini, News|Tags: Gemini, swords into plowshares, Titan II|0 Comments

“Apollo Reflections” Film & Titan II Missile

After producing four short films in the Apollo Reflections series, we are now focusing our attention on our feature-length documentary, “Apollo Reflections.” During our recent trip to Tucson, AZ for Spacefest we were fortunate to interview several more Space Shuttle era astronauts and others who witnessed Apollo history or were inspired by it, including Shuttle Astronauts Eileen Collins (1st US female mission Commander), Mario Runco, Kathy Sullivan (1st US female Spacewalker), Linda Godwin, and Clay Anderson, as well as authors, and the only college journalists given NASA press credentials to report on the Apollo 11 mission, David Chudwin and Marv Rubenstein, and Ryan Nagata, among others.

We also shot some great B-Roll at the Titan II Missile Museum south of Tucson.

I gazed upon the Titan II pondering its power with a mix of awe, wonder, […]

1 11, 2020

RUSTY SCHWEICKART APOLLO 9 & BEYOND FULL FILM

Jeremy Theoret2022-03-11T05:07:28+00:00Categories: Apollo 9, Apollospace Presents, Films|Tags: Apollo 9, Apollo Reflections, Reflections Series, Rusty Schweickart|0 Comments

RUSTY SCHWEICKART APOLLO 9 & BEYOND

In this profoundly beautiful and moving film, Apollo 9 Astronaut Rusty Schweickart discusses the Apollo 9 mission, his life-altering spacewalk, and our cosmic birth. Rusty describes testing the Lunar Module, the first true spaceship that would four months later land men on the moon; his historic spacewalk, the first EVA of the Apollo era; and the incredible beauty of the Earth from space.

Beyond the Apollo 9 mission itself, Rusty goes much deeper to explore the philosophical and evolutionary implications of humanity’s first steps into the cosmos, describing the powerful effects of his “five minutes” alone on the Lunar Module porch as he observed the Earth below and pondered the big questions of existence – questions he would come to answer back on Earth.

The film is in 4K with a run time of 48:06 and was featured on Asteroid Day TV in June for Asteroid Day 2020, with a viewership […]

News & Articles

FIRST COLOR PHOTO OF EARTH FROM SPACE – THE BERG FILM II

First Color Photo of Earth from Space (Part II):

The Mission & the Montage

FIRST COLOR PHOTO OF EARTH FROM SPACE – THE BERG FILM I

First Color Photo of Earth from Space Unearthed!

On October 5, 1954, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) launched an Aerobee sounding rocket from the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico. On board were two 16mm movie cameras peering out small holes, one with black and white film and the other with color film.

On that color 16mm film would be recorded the very first color images of Earth from space.

WALT CUNNINGHAM – IN MEMORIAM

Remembering Apollo 7 Astronaut Walt Cunningham (March 16, 1932 – January 3, 2023)

Earth From Space V – A Distant World

A Distant World

Earth From Space IV – Discovering Earth

Discovering Earth

“We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth” – Bill Anders, Apollo 8, “Earthrise” photographer

Earth From Space III – The Whole Earth

The Whole Earth

EARTH FROM SPACE II – IN LIVING COLOR

On October 5, 1954, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) launched an Aerobee sounding rocket from the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico. On board were two 16mm movie cameras peering out small holes, one with black and white film and the other with color film.

Earth From Space I – First Photographs From Space

First Photograph of Earth from Space, 1946

APOLLOSPACE FOCUSING ON “APOLLO REFLECTIONS”

“Apollo Reflections” Film & Titan II Missile

RUSTY SCHWEICKART APOLLO 9 & BEYOND FULL FILM

RUSTY SCHWEICKART APOLLO 9 & BEYOND

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