Photography was a key factor of NASA’s wish to garner public support as well as to study the many unknown elements of space exploration.  The photographs in this collection were originally used for both internal NASA study, use by NASA subcontractors, as well as for publicity purposes.  Many different cameras were developed and adapted for the stresses of space travel, with the Hasselblad  being primarily used to record lunar moonwalks and scientific experiments.  As the missions progressed photography was deemed more and more important to record events for all mankind. Scroll to read full text The collection includes five sections: 1. An Archive of 4500 Vintage Photographs from pre-Mercury experiments in the late 1950s through the lunar landing missions of Apollo 11 to Apollo 17 to the US-Soviet collaborations of Apollo-Soyuz and Skylab of the 1970s. View Archive> 2. Lunar Landmark Maps and Training Manuals Vintage photographic artifacts from various Apollo Missions to map potential landing sites for future Apollo lunar landing missions. Very few of these were produced and are extremely rare. There is a total of 160 vintage photographs in these Landmark Maps and Training manuals Apollo 10: Lunar Landmark Maps> Apollo 13: Lunar Landmark Maps> Apollo 14: Lunar Landmark Maps> Apollo 14: Training Manual> 3. Lunar Surveyor Mosaics Surveyor Missions began to photograph the surface of the moon in June of 1966 and continued for two years. In all, there were seven missions with five successful moon landings. Produced to scan the terrain for the manned Apollo landing in 1969, these images were transmitted back to earth and received on video. The images then were photographed and intricately placed according to schematic plans. Each Mosaic is comprised of approximately 20 to 100 two-inch square black and white photographs that have been stapled to sheets of U.S. Geological Survey cartographic paper. There are 15 vintage Surveyor Mosaics in this section. View Mosaics> 4. Lunar Orbiter Photographs A group of 7 large format silver prints from this series of unmanned missions which were the first space missions to photograph Earth from space.  In addition to these, included in this group is a vintage print of the first photograph taken of Earth from the vicinity of the Moon. View photographs> 5. Apollo 15 Lunar Panoramas A group of 4 gelatin silver photographs, each approximately four feet in length, depicting a portion of the Moon’s surface from the Apollo 15 lunar lander. View panoramas> back to top