A Millennium of Memories: Photos in Flight

The top 500 iconic images from the last thousand years of traveling the stars.

#167: The Calm Before the Storm

Date: 2933-05-28 SET

Photographer: Taia Wallen, Major

One of only a handful of images of Corin that the Marines have released, the photographer, then Lance Corporal Taia Wallen, had just completed an intensive six-hour zero-g boarding training exercise when she came across this flight of Gladiators waiting on the launchpad. The squadron was in the process of transferring to a Marine vessel headed for an undisclosed combat zone.

While many cite the grain and contrast as contributing to the immediacy of the moment, the pilots are the truly striking aspect of this picture. There is a serenity as they wait to launch into what we can imagine is certain danger. It serves as a testament to the focus and training of the men and women who serve in the UEE Marines.