TRANSCENDENCE: Photographs by Space-Shuttle Astronauts
Thursday, April 28th, 2011Quality of light in space: Earth-light defines the robotic arm of the space shuttle Atlantis 360 miles above Earth (May 2009: NASA/Megan McArthur)
Back Story Project by Michael Soluri
On April 29th and the eve of first 50 years of American human space flight, NASA will fly its second to last space shuttle mission – STS 134 Endeavour. Several years earlier however, I had unprecedented access to document the crew, labor force and tools of the last space-shuttle mission that essentially saved the Hubble Space Telescope. During that time I was asked by the crew of STS 125 Atlantis to help them learn how to better respond to their experiences while in Earth orbit. Through a number of seminars over 19 months, we examined the history of human space flight photography that resulted in an awareness of how to notice and respond to real-time moments of visual interest – mostly in available light. During their flight I believe each member of the Atlantis crew responded to the realization of the presence of the self in space and experienced something transcendent—visual, spiritual, or both.
More images and the full Back Story can be found in Aperture #202.
