Showing posts with label NASA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NASA. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
RALPH MORSE 1917 - 2014
"If LIFE could only afford one photographer, it would have to be Ralph Morse." -- LIFE's long-time managing editor George Hunt
The New York Times: Ralph Morse, Life Photographer, Is Dead at 97
pdn: Obituary: LIFE Photographer Ralph Morse, 97
Vanity Fair: Ralph Morse, Iconic Photojournalist, Dies at 97
F Stoppers: Notable LIFE Magazine Photographer, Ralph Morse, Dies at 97
TIME: Ralph Morse: Photographer Spotlight
Ralph Morse was there when Jackie Robinson stole home base in Game One, The 1955 World Series, NY Yankees vs Brooklyn Dodgers, and also made this classic photograph of Robinson in a later game.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Unpublished JFK Photos: Houston Remembers President Kennedy's 1962 "Moon Speech" At Rice Stadium
Via KUHF
Today is the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's famous speech in which he declared, "We choose to go to the moon ..." He delivered it here in Houston, vowing to put Americans on the moon within the decade.
I'm sitting here in the bleachers at Rice, on the stadium's east side, where most of the 40,000 people had gathered to hear Kennedy speak. It was Sept. 12, 1962 and reportedly it was quite hot but clear that day. The crowd included not only the mayor of Houston, the county judge, and the president of Rice, but also the Texas governor and various Texas congressman.
"It was blazingly hot. And poor Lyndon Johnson was drenched with perspiration."
Bob Gomel was photographing Kennedy that day for LIFE magazine. He says the president, unbelievably, didn't seem sweaty at all.
"He was cool, man. He just didn't, he just somehow or other, was oblivious to it. He looked perfectly fine."
Houston was the third stop on a presidential tour of aerospace facilities.
Gomel had gone with him to the rocket facility in Huntsville, Alabama and to Cape Canaveral.
At Rice he was so busy taking photos that he didn't realize the importance of the speech until later.
"It was very daring, it was very daring. I mean the Russians were out there in space. And he elected to put us in competition."
Excerpt from speech:
"But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard …"
Rice presidential historian Douglas Brinkley says this was not only the most important event in Rice's 100-year history, but it was also one of Kennedy's best and most successful speeches, in which he sold the American public on a vast public works project, that despite its expense, united the country.
"It was a way to get Congress to appropriate hundreds of billions of dollars into the space program. This was the single largest public discovery project ever. In scope, it dwarfed the Panama Canal. Maybe only the interstate highway system of Eisenhower is comparable."
Brinkley says Kennedy wisely sold the project as more than just a Cold War space race with the Soviets.
"Kennedy framed it as the march of human civilization into the galaxies. And framed it in that language of breaking the shackles of earth."
Brinkley notes that this was the last time a U.S. President managed to unite the country around a vast, expensive, and noble goal.
The tragedy of the Vietnam war, followed by Ronald Reagan's call to shrink government, made Americans more skeptical about public spending, especially on infrastructure and exploration.
"We aren't seeming to do public discovery anymore. It's all become private sector. And you don't have the government leading the charge on one big grand possibility like Kennedy threw out in front of the 40,000 people at Rice Stadium."
Bob Gomel: LIFE in The 1960s will be on exhibit October 5 - November 18, 2012 at Monroe Gallery of Photography. Bob Gomel will be in attendance at a reception in his honor on Friday, Oct 5, 5 - 7 PM.
Related: 50 years ago, Kennedy reached for stars in historic Rice address
50 years ago a promise made, a promise kept: going to the moon
Kennedy’s speech a ‘tonic’ for nation losing to Russia
"It was blazingly hot. And poor Lyndon Johnson was drenched with perspiration."
Bob Gomel was photographing Kennedy that day for LIFE magazine. He says the president, unbelievably, didn't seem sweaty at all.
"He was cool, man. He just didn't, he just somehow or other, was oblivious to it. He looked perfectly fine."
Houston was the third stop on a presidential tour of aerospace facilities.
Gomel had gone with him to the rocket facility in Huntsville, Alabama and to Cape Canaveral.
At Rice he was so busy taking photos that he didn't realize the importance of the speech until later.
"It was very daring, it was very daring. I mean the Russians were out there in space. And he elected to put us in competition."
Excerpt from speech:
"But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard …"
President JFK and LIFE magazine photographer Bob Gomel
LIFE magazine photographer Bob Gomel, 28, at right in background holding camera, as the president enters the stadium before the famous speech. Photo credit: Unknown.
Unpublished Photo by Bob Gomel
At Houston's Manned Spacecraft Center on 6040 Telephone Road, President Kennedy pokes his head out of a spacecraft in this previously unpublished photo. Photo credit: Bob Gomel.
President at the Podium
At Rice University, the presidential speech that ignited the dream. Photo by: Bob Gomel
"We choose to go to the moon ..."
"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard ..." Photo by: Bob Gomel
Space Industry Tour
President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon Johnson began their space industry tour on Sept. 11, 1962 at rocket-production facilities in Huntsville, Alabama. Photo credit: Bob Gomel.
President JFK and VP Lyndon Johnson
President Kennedy, with Vice President Johnson by his side, speaks at Cape Canaveral during his 1962 tour of U.S. aerospace facilities. Photo credit: Bob Gomel.
President Kennedy at Cape Canaveral
President Kennedy at Cape Canaveral. Photo credit: Bob Gomel.
President Kennedy walking into Rice Stadium
President Kennedy walking into Rice stadium. Photo by: Bob Gomel
President at the Podium
At Rice University, the presidential speech continues. Photo by: Bob Gomel
President with Clenched Fist
President Kennedy with clenched fist during speech. Photo by: Bob Gomel
President during Convocation
President Kennedy during Rice University's Convocation. Photo byBob Gomel
"It was a way to get Congress to appropriate hundreds of billions of dollars into the space program. This was the single largest public discovery project ever. In scope, it dwarfed the Panama Canal. Maybe only the interstate highway system of Eisenhower is comparable."
Brinkley says Kennedy wisely sold the project as more than just a Cold War space race with the Soviets.
"Kennedy framed it as the march of human civilization into the galaxies. And framed it in that language of breaking the shackles of earth."
Brinkley notes that this was the last time a U.S. President managed to unite the country around a vast, expensive, and noble goal.
The tragedy of the Vietnam war, followed by Ronald Reagan's call to shrink government, made Americans more skeptical about public spending, especially on infrastructure and exploration.
"We aren't seeming to do public discovery anymore. It's all become private sector. And you don't have the government leading the charge on one big grand possibility like Kennedy threw out in front of the 40,000 people at Rice Stadium."
Bob Gomel: LIFE in The 1960s will be on exhibit October 5 - November 18, 2012 at Monroe Gallery of Photography. Bob Gomel will be in attendance at a reception in his honor on Friday, Oct 5, 5 - 7 PM.
Related: 50 years ago, Kennedy reached for stars in historic Rice address
50 years ago a promise made, a promise kept: going to the moon
Kennedy’s speech a ‘tonic’ for nation losing to Russia
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
45 Years Ago Today: The First Earthrise
The Backstory
Via TIME LightBoxTuesday, August 23, 2011 | By
Geocentrism died on August 23, 1966. Centuries had passed since human beings first dispensed with the old notion that the Earth was the hub around which the universe turned. But what we know rationally and embrace intuitively are often two different things. No matter where we stood on our home planet, after all, no matter how high we climbed into — or even above — the atmosphere, Earth’s horizon still defined the limits of our vision. We could see how out-there looked from down-here, but what we never saw was the reverse. And then, 45 years ago this month, we all at once could.
In that otherwise unremarkable summer, NASA’s Lunar Orbiter 1 arrived at the moon. As it rounded the far side on one of its early orbits, it snapped this head-turning image of the Earth — carved to a mere crescent like our own little moon — rising over the dominating arc of the lunar horizon. Our species had seen the sun rise and the moon rise, but we had never seen an Earthrise. It was both an illuminating and a humbling experience — one, some scientists hoped, that would help us appreciate the fragility of our little soap bubble world. Two generations on, that’s a hope worth recalling.
Jeffrey Kluger is a senior editor for TIME and oversees science and technology reporting. He has written or co-written more than 35 cover stories for the magazine and regularly contributes articles and commentary on science and health stories. His notable cover stories include reports on global warming, the science of appetite, the Apollo 11 anniversary, and the roots of human morality.
Related: Time's LightBox was cited as one of today's leading examples of photojournalism during the special event Photojournalism: A Conversation
Friday, February 25, 2011
SHUTTLE DISCOVERY LAUNCHES INTO HISTORY; PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY'S SPACE SPEECH 49 YEARS AGO
AP/Chris OMeara
Discovery, the world's most traveled spaceship, thundered into orbit for the final time Thursday, heading toward the International Space Station on a journey that marks the beginning of the end of the shuttle era. Discovery is the oldest of NASA's three surviving space shuttles and the first to be decommissioned this year. Two missions remain, first by Atlantis and then Endeavour, to end the 30-year program.
It was Discovery's 39th launch and the 133rd shuttle mission overall. Discovery already has 143 million miles to its credit, beginning with its first flight in 1984. By the time this mission ends, the shuttle will have tacked on another 4.5 million miles. And it will have spent 363 days in space and circled Earth 5,800 times when it returns March 7. No other spacecraft has been launched so many times.
49 years ago, President John F. Kennedy laid out the ambitions for the United States Space Program.
Bob Gomel: John F. Kennedy, Houston, September 12, 1962
On a very hot late summer's day, September 12, 1962, President Kennedy visited the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston. After a brief tour, he delivered brief remarks about the rapid achievements made by the country's space exploration program in recent years and its plans for future projects.
President Kennedy then travelled to Rice University in Houston, Texas, and gave this speech outdoors in the football stadium. The President spoke in philosophical terms about the need to solve the mysteries of space, reaffirmed America's commitment to landing a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s and also defended the enormous expense of the space program.
"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency."
Text of speech here.
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