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lost-in-contemplation
There’s something about old photographs. The perfect combination of faded light, outdated coloring, and nostalgia seems to make them more beautiful with age.
Perhaps that’s why this collection of images from NASA’s Gemini Program is so great. The Project Gemini Online Digital Archive, released this weekend by NASA and Arizona State University, features high-resolution digital scans from the original Gemini flight films.
As NASA’s second human spaceflight program, which had 10 manned flights between 1965 and 1966, Gemini saw such milestones as the first American spacewalk, first week-long spaceflight, and the first docking maneuver with another vehicle in space. The success of these objectives paved the way for the Apollo program, which immediately followed Gemini and landed the first men on the moon.
Here, Wired presents some of the highlights from this archive.
Above:
1) [high-resolution], 2) [high-resolution]
Lost in Contemplation
Astronaut Ed White, the first American to walk in space, looks at the beauty outside his capsule. His copilot, Jim McDivitt, took this photograph during the Gemini IV mission. Below, sunrise over the limb of the Earth taken on the same mission.
1) [high-resolution], 2) [high-resolution]With additional reporting by Dave Mosher
All images: NASA/JSC/Arizona State University