“Cameras were adapted to take account of the practicalities of shooting in space,” says Michael Pritchard, director-general of the Royal Photographic Society. “Camera controls were extended or special alterations made so that they could be worked with heavy gloved hands. Some controls such as built in viewfinders were dispensed with as you couldn’t get the camera close to an eye for framing because of the helmet, so less accurate sights were used.

“Cameras would also make use of automatic winding of film and a number of models made use of extended lengths of film compared to standard lengths, to save the need of changing film in flight. One very practical measure was tethering the camera to the astronaut’s space suit so that it didn’t get separated if the user let go of it.”

Moon shots



The Soviets – who at the time had the biggest camera-making industry in the world outside Japan – found many of the same solutions, modifying existing designs to capture their cosmonauts in action. Earlier this year, two formerly top-secret designs – including one meant for an aborted mission to land Soviet spacemen on the Moon – were auctioned in the UK. Another design, a heavily modified Kiev medium format camera used in the Zond-7 spacecraft, sold for more than $75,000 in 2012. In appearance, they have the hallmarks of a normal camera, but with exaggerated features such as giant winding dials and protruding arms to change the lens aperture.

As some of the images in the exhibition show, our blue planet proved a dazzling backdrop, and even without the proper aids to composition, some of the astronaut photographers took impressive pictures. The image of Ed White floating in space, gold visor glinting, umbilically linked to the open door of the spacecraft would be impressive enough – the white, brown and blue of our home planet floating behind, adds an extra dimension.

The exhibition also includes images taken on the Moon, during the handful of Apollo missions that explored our nearest neighbour. Thousands of images of the lunar surface were taken on modified Hasselblad cameras, part of a family extensively redesigned for the rigours of space travel.

"The shot of the Earth rising above the moon became an emblem for the nascent environmental movement highlighting both the fragility of the Earth in space and also its uniqueness,” says Pritchard. “For this reason it’s become one of the world’s most reproduced photographs.”

But in order to save weight and allow more rock samples to be taken back to Earth, only the detachable backs of the cameras, which contained films, were kept. Almost all the cameras and lenses were left behind, destined to gather moondust until the next lunar visitors arrive…

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