Skip Navigation
Created with Fabric.js 3.6.3

From the Collection: NASA in Colour in the Black Star Collection (1969–1984)

January 16–April 6, 2024
From the Collection Wall, The Image Centre
Curator: Chantal Wilson

Of the 291,468 photographs in the IMC’s Black Star Collection, only 288 are printed in colour. Almost all of these are related to space missions launched by the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the latter half of the 20th century.

During the most active years of the Black Star Publishing Company—from the late 1930s through the 1990s—colour photographs were principally distributed to magazines in the form of duplicate transparencies, from which reproductions could easily be made. Contrary to this standard practice, the US government released NASA’s imagery to the media as physical colour prints. These were issued in the public domain with no copyright restrictions, so images related to aeronautics and satellites, rocket launches and space exploration, and the ground crews, astronauts and scientists who carried out American missions in outer space were permanently retained by press agencies like Black Star, to be resold continuously for publication.

On July 20, 1969, people gathered around their television sets to watch two astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, take their first steps on the moon. In the moment, viewers could only see the landing transmitted in grainy, black-and-white video. It took several weeks for NASA to release high-quality still photographs, made in space by the astronauts. By the late 1960s, competition from broadcast television had prompted print news editors to find new ways to attract readers. Newspapers and magazines began publishing NASA’s distributed photographs with supplemental information to realize more in-depth coverage—including behind-the-scenes stories about preparation and training for space flights, and exposés on the

personal and family lives of astronauts—providing more detail than could be communicated in a short news cycle or through live television programs. Such extensive picture stories satisfied public demand to see beyond the momentary excitement of televised launches, orbits and spacecraft landings. The NASA colour photographs on view here, including both icons and more quotidian images, reveal the emphasis placed by the illustrated press on the wonder of the space race and celebration of American prowess during the Cold War era. 

 

A view of the Earth from over Africa and Europe, with clouds with a crescent shadow over Asia
Fig. 1

Unknown photographer for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), [View of Earth from Apollo 11 spacecraft], July 17, 1969, chromogenic print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre

Two astronauts in space suits inside an office space practicing picking up rocks
Fig. 2

Unknown photographer for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), [Astronauts Charles Conrad Jr. and Alan L. Bean participating in activity simulations during flight crew training, Cape Kennedy, Florida, United States], October 6, 1969, chromogenic print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre

Three NASA Astronauts stand in front of a space ship with their helmets off smiling
Fig. 3

Unknown photographer for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), [Apollo 12 flight crew, (left to right) Charles Conrad Jr., Richard F. Gordon Jr, and Alan L. Bean, Houston, Texas, United States], September 1969, chromogenic print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre

NASA control room with employees sitting in front of old computer screens and at the front of the room is a large screen with a map of the Earth showing the jet stream
Fig. 4

Unknown photographer for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), [Live television transmission from Apollo 9 as viewed in the mission operations control room during the Earth-orbital mission, Houston, Texas, United States], March 1969, chromogenic print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre

A desert landscape with many vehicles parked and lined up in a 90 degree angle
Fig. 5

Unknown photographer for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), [Crowds awaiting the landing of Spaceship Columbia, Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, United States], 1981, chromogenic print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre

High above the clouds a spaceship flies vertically with a long trail of smoke behind it
Fig. 6

John K. Young for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), [The Discovery space shuttle during takeoff on its second voyage towards an eight-day stay in Earth’s orbit, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, United States], November 8, 1984, chromogenic print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre

An astronaut drifts alone in space over earth
Fig. 7

Herman Kokojan for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), [Televised scene of astronaut Bruce McCandless II hovering above Earth in NASA’s first extravehicular activity that employed an untethered, nitrogen propelled maneuvering unit], February 7, 1984, chromogenic print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre

Five astronauts in blue suits crowd together in a photo in front of a control panel
Fig. 8

Unknown photographer for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), [Televised scene of the five crew members (from left to right), David H. Malker, Frederick H. Hauck, Anna Lea Fisher, Joseph P. Allen IV and Dale A. Gardner, posing on the flight deck on the first day aboard the Earth-orbiting Discovery shuttle], November 8, 1984, chromogenic print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre

Installation Shots

Eight framed colour photographs from NASA on a red gallery wall, above a red display vitrine at The Image Centre
Fig. 1

From the Collection: NASA in Colour in the Black Star Collection (1969–1984) © James Morley, The Image Centre, 2024

Eight framed colour photographs from NASA on a red gallery wall, above a red display vitrine at The Image Centre
Fig. 2

From the Collection: NASA in Colour in the Black Star Collection (1969–1984) © James Morley, The Image Centre, 2024

Life magazine spread showing an astronaut landing on the moon on display in a gallery vitrine at The Image Centre
Fig. 3

From the Collection: NASA in Colour in the Black Star Collection (1969–1984) © James Morley, The Image Centre, 2024

Upcoming Exhibitions

Fig.
Fig.