Looking Up

Weegee (1899-1968), [Woman looking at Mars through telescope, Times Square, New York], ca. 1943 (3074.1993)

Carl Mydans (1906-2004), Kremlin, 1959 (267.2005)

NASA, [Panorama of the Moon’s Surface with Shadow of Surveyor 1], June 2, 1966 (2014.26.1)

NASA, Earthrise, December 24, 1968 (2016.23.1)

Inspired by the upcoming (August 21, 2017) total solar eclipse, this post presents photos that are not directly about the moon completely covering the sun, yet involve unlikely, unexpected, previously unseen, amusing, beautiful, and profound views of looking into space from the heart of a darkened Manhattan, perhaps during a World War Two blackout. The moon and stars above the Moscow skies during the height of the Cold War. A fifty inch long panorama of “the first U.S. spacecraft to land safely on the Moon.” The Surveyor 1 made over 11,000 photos and gathered essential data for the future lunar landings. And a view of the earth from the Apollo 8 mission:

“Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts-Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders-held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. Said Lovell, “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.”  Source: NASA

John Pfahl, Moonrise over Pie Pan, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, 1977 (433.1984)

Pete Turner, Stonehenge, 1979 (122.1987)