Hasselblad cameras were used outside of spacecraft as well, capturing many iconic images. Thanks in large part to Schirra's photography in space, Hasselblad cameras became important cargo aboard subsequent space exploration missions as part of the Gemini and Apollo missions. You can learn more about Rise's cameras at Space Camera Co. If you would like to own a working replica of this same Hasselblad, Cole Rise makes replicas of space cameras, including the Hasselblad 500C. Schirra's Hasselblad camera was later used in the final Mercury mission by Gordon Cooper and was eventually sold at auction for $275,000 USD. The resulting images were very detailed and as Manley says in the video below, established a new standard for images captured in space. On their advice, Schirra purchased the medium format Hasselblad and after it was modified for improved usability and performance, he used it to capture images during six orbits of Earth. Schirra was a photography enthusiast himself and had asked professional photographers who had been following the space program for advice. Walter Schirra, pictured above second from the left, took a Hasselblad 500C camera aboard the Mercury Sigma-7 spacecraft. A second camera on board Glenn's first orbital flight was a special Leica camera which had been modified to capture wide-spectrum images of stars. You can learn more about Glenn's Ansco Autoset in this article from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. NASA engineers modified the camera to make it easier to use while in space, including the addition of a pistol grip and an additional viewfinder that could be used with the suit helmet closed. In fact, John Glenn bought a standard Ansco Autoset camera on his own, likely to avoid delays if he had gone through the standard government acquisitions process. Since then, astronauts have used cameras to capture some of the most iconic photos of space exploration and created important memories for countless people back on terra firma.Īs Scott Manley points out in his new video, How Astronauts Captured Iconic Space Photos – A History of Cameras in Space, although cameras are often modified for space flight, not every camera has been special. Astronauts have been taking cameras into space Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov orbited the Earth aboard the Vostok 2 in 1961.
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