World history: “50 years of Space Photography” Exhibition in Moscow

August 2, 2011 the Gallery "FotoSoyuz" in Moscow launches "50 Years of Space Photography" exhibition, prepared by the S. I. Vavilov Institute of History of Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Union of Photo Artists of Russia.

The exhibition is dedicated to the Year of astronautics and is held on the eve of 50th anniversary of the first 24-hour space flight performed by German Titov on August 6-7, 1961.

50 years ago, people first saw the image of Earth made from space. It became possible to learn what it looks like from space after the flight of the "Vostok-2", piloted by German Titov. Starting on August 6, 1961, he performed a daily flight, during which was conducted a number of medical and technical experiments. Among the new challenges of the "Vostok-2" flight was filming the Earth's surface, for which on-board the spacecraft was placed a reporter's camera "Konvas-automatic", and 300 m of film. "Astronaut-2" filmed the Earth's surface from the altitude of near-Earth orbit and became the first space cameraman.

Color photographs of Earth from space have been printed from 35-mm film and recorded in the File of spaceflight records of a citizen of the USSR G. S. Titov on Soviet satellite "Vostok-2". The contrast of outer space and the planet's surface, an arched curvature of the horizon line indicate that shooting from extraterrestrial space. Since then, space photography has been developing.

Over 50 years of manned space flights the space photography has become a major means of knowledge of extraterrestrial space, a space technology in demand. Today the space photography can also be regarded as a specific type of application photography, and even as a form of photographic art.

The exhibition reflects the main stages of the national manned space flight in the period of 1961-2000s: training of astronauts for flight aboard the "Vostok", "Voskhod", "Soyuz"; flights on space stations "Salut", "Mir", "Interkosmos" program.

The exhibition features over 80 photographs and 20 artifacts, reflecting the evolution of space phototechnique since 1961. Most of the models of equipment are displayed for the first time.